Cry of a Restless Soul
by Runningidiot
Summary: The 1st of the Legacy. Harry has returned from his fifth year shattered. Though countless ordeals await the protaginist, soon Sirius Black is at the back of his mind and merely surviving is his top priority. For a full summary and Disclaimer check inside.
1. Part 1: Lost Horizon

Summary:  
I recently read R.A Salvatores Drizzt tales series and I found these little... monologues, if you will, rather interesting. So i'm going to "burrow" his idea and use edit the entire tale of Cry of a Restless Soul.

Disclaimer:  
I do not own any J.K Rowling created characters or names; I am merely duplicating her great work in the way I feel like articling events. The only character, for now, that I own, is Aran Schmitz who is introduced in the second chapter. I also do not own the title of the story or the chapter titles; they essentially belong to one of my favourite power metal bands, Lost Horizon. The next story will be the same, duplicating song titles from one of my many favourite metal bands. I do not intend to earn profit from this story and if I do end up selling it to someone I will distribute the profit accordingly to the owners of the many things in this story. I also do not own the idea of monologues at the beginng of certain parts of stories.

Part One:

Lost Horizon

_My life has always been one of constant danger and fast-paced conflicts. I have attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizarding for… five years now. A minuscule amount of time for a normal human life, yet I have learnt more from the experiences of this simple school than I have from my normal home._

_Home, it is something I have been denied from all of my life. I was envious of the people who would talk daily about their siblings playing Quidditch, playing gobstones or other such activates to pass the time. I thought myself a failure because of the Dursleys, who had denied absolutely everything from me. As I gazed at a small child before the Quidditch World Cup in the summer before my fourth year, he was playing with his father's wand. I felt jealously roar inside of me, for I was denied the very existence of wands and magic until the age of eleven._

_Though I feel that I must thank the Dursleys, for it is they who have moulded me into the shape that I am today, the shy yet brave and strong boy called Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived, and most recently, the Chosen One. Though names and titles have always been rather irrelevant in my opinion, the pampering of Dudley Dursley has taught me that much._

_Is the Dursley residence the true home of Harry James Potter though? Is Godric's Hollow even my home? This has always been a goal for my life, to find my true home._

_I could say it is Hogwarts, I thought that too when I saw it for the first time, but later in my teens, I found out that I did not belong there. For that was the home for everyone, the home for the peasants, the home for the rich, the home for the knowledgeable, the home for the stupid._

_Hogwarts accepted every individual, no matter what colour, or what intelligence, and what race. Hogwarts did not bring me the comforting, relaxing feeling that I longed for and that everyone else around me has already found._

_I lusted for this feeling, it took over my mind, leaving it for Voldemort to crawl right in and do what he wanted to do. I knew he had entered my mind too, but did I care? Voldemort was always just another obstacle in my way to finding my true home._

_I_ could _say my home was where all my friends gathered, where they laughed and drank, swapping various tales about their lives and their wants. I thought that too, when I realized Hogwarts wasn't my true home. Then I realized that it was not true, for my friends were slowly, yet very obviously, distancing themselves from my existence. Instead pleasing themselves with their respective relationships and futures, I thought for a long time in my fifth year, that I was indeed in love with someone._

_Love is something that's also been denied for me and it's also something that everyone else around me has always earned as soon as they were born. I was born with death around me, clouding my existence with darkness. _

_Home, love, a family to call your own… all of these things I was born without, yet I continue to live. Just like everyone else around me. Death has not yet stung me with its long fingered black hands; I have escaped the feared death many times to this day._

_Yet… do I want to escape it any longer? Does my existence have no other purpose other_ _then to be Lord Voldemort's bane? Does my life have no meaning behind it? Does life indeed have any meaning behind it? We are born, we live, sucking knowledge into our minds and thirst for power, while trying to grasp ultimate power, we die, our body wasting away with the millions of others of the dead._

_Death is the inevitable outcome of life, I know now that was what Dumbledore was trying to tell me so long ago. The first year of Hogwarts seems so far away now, the blissful welcoming feeling that Hogwarts seemed to enter my eleven year old body the instant I laid eyes upon it._

_I cannot deny that my life at Hogwarts is better than the life at the Dursleys; but is there another place that I can actually call my true home? One that I may live in peace and welcome death wholeheartedly? I am turning sixteen in a matter of hours, if I want to find this blessed place, for that is my true objective of life._

_Or so I hope so, for if the only purpose of my existence was to fulfil the Prophecy… it would be a rather pitiful existence yes?_

_- Harry Potter _


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome Back

Cry of a Restless Soul

Summary:  
First of the Legacy Chronicles, Harry Potter has returned from his seventh year shattered, his godfather still haunts him occasionally, but new events cause that image to be replaced by others. The Protagonist now has to face many new things; Occulumency again, girls as usual, and, of course, death. It all starts in Harry's so-called room in the legendary Privet Drive where he's starting to take some advice from his best friend Hermione, and writing down his jumbled thoughts.

Disclaimer:  
I do not own any J.K Rowling created characters or names; I am merely duplicating her great work in the way I feel like articling events. The only character that belongs to me, for now, is Aran Schmitz who is introduced in the second chapter, any use of this character by anyone else will have to seek my approval first. I also do not own the title of the story or the chapter titles; they essentially belong to one of my favorite power metal bands, Lost Horizon. The next story will be the same, duplicating song titles from one of my many favorite metal bands. I do not intend to earn profit from this story and if I do end up selling it to someone I will distribute the profit accordingly to the owners of the many things in this story. I also do not own the monologue concept at the beginning a certain parts of a book.

Chapter 1:

Welcome Back

_I do not know why I am writing in this so-called diary, maybe its just me listening, for once, to Hermione's constant babbles about homework and such. But here I am, in my so-called room in number four Privet Drive, writing in a book which none-other than Hermione Granger sent me for a birthday present. I am honoured that she is thinking of my own thoughts, for once, over her own. It may sound selfish, but I'm tired of people saying things like "Oh my life sucks." "Oh I wish I were smarter." Have they ever faced Lord Voldemort in combat? Have they ever witnessed a relative fall through a "dimension door?" Have they been criticized by the daily newspaper everyday? Have they ever been called an attention-seeker because his/her parents died?_

_No they haven't. I am tired of the constant self-pity that is apparent all around me; I feel it is both selfish and utterly pointless. Since none of them have EVER experienced what I have gone through the fifteen years of my life. Though I find it completely unfair how I have to suffer through these terrible ordeals while other wizards, witches, and Muggles alike sit and want to be on some adventure!_

_Adventures aren't as great as the stereotypical one, where a hero rises up in the darkest hour of history and that hero flawlessly destroys the enemy. I find that stereotype despicable; I am going through hell to even stand up to Lord Voldemort while Dumbledore makes it look easy with his… his… spells and things._

_This is stupid… I know I'm sounding quite stupid myself, but really, do hero's ever have to go through the despair I'm going through! NO! They're all joyful, prancing from town to town, helping them in their current conflict and then prance to the dark dungeon of the evil dark wizard who the hero destroys effortlessly!_

_They never have to go through prejudice (not only in the hero, but in his/her friends too)! They never have to go through the horrible nightmares that the Dark Lord has planted in his/her mind!_

_Why am I doing this? For what purpose am I writing in this stupid book!_

Harry Potter slammed the diary shut; causing his snowy owl, Hedwig, to stir a bit and look up at him with a look of bitter annoyance in which he quickly muttered an apology. Harry sighed, stretching his arms and got up from his bed, leaving the diary behind. He looked out the nearby window, perching his arms on the windowsill. What he saw was Privet Drive, a quiet street, even though it was (Harry looks at his watch) half past five, when dinner is being served. As if his mind were read, a cry echoed from a floor bellow Harry.

"BOY! DINNER!" Harry's, Uncle Vernon yelled up, making Hedwig stir again making Harry give her, yet another, apologetic look before departing for dinner.

When Harry entered the kitchen he noticed, not surprisingly, that none of the Dursley members looked up to greet him. The boy-who-lived didn't care though; he sat down at the dinner table, devouring his supper which consisted of "rabbit food" and one, small, slice of white chicken. Harry couldn't help but notice Dudley's continuous glances at the slice of meat.

"Would you like this cousin?" Harry couldn't help but speak up at the silent table; all faces looked up at him immediately, two of them frowning while the last had a grin on.

"Sure!" Harry's cousin, Dudley, said greedily but Uncle Vernon snatched it away from Harry's grasp, just as Dudley was reaching for it.

"What're you up to boy?" Vernon asked carefully, his purple face turning quite a fine shade of purple.

"I was offering this to-" he was suddenly cut off by his uncle.

"NO YOU IDIOT! WHAT'D YOU DO TO THIS PIECE OF CHICKEN?" He roared, holding up the piece of chicken in question, making it flap. Harry sighed, apparently they had not forgotten the incident involving the dreaded Ton-Tongue-Toffees and they were being extra careful every time Harry or any other wizard/witch offered them something.

"I didn't do anything to the pie-" Harry began once again, his voice bored.

"YES YOU DID BOY! THOUGHT YOU COULD TRICK DUDDERS DID YA?"

"That's not particularly difficult is it!" Harry snapped irritably. "Now if you would just give that chicken to _Dudders, _I think he would really appreciate it!" Harry knew he had crossed the line, he didn't care much. He distantly heard Vernon's shouts at him, the piece of meat still dangling from his fist.

"WE TOOK YOU IN! WE SHOULD'VE LISTENED TO MARGE! I SHOULDN'T HAVE LISTENED TO YOU PETUNIA LAST YEAR!" Vernon was shouting for about ten minutes, Harry finished his dinner and left the kitchen and presumed they hadn't noticed his departure, since he could hear their shouts for over twenty minutes after his leaving of the kitchen.

He slammed his door shut, fury imbedded on his face. He looked up at Hedwig's third look of annoyance and brushed it off with a wave of his hand.

"I'm sorry Hedwig, you don't deserve this." Harry told his owl, not expecting a reply of any sort, and Hedwig hooted softly. Harry sat down on his bed, absently petting Hedwig across her head. He knew Hedwig didn't deserve his own screams, she was the only civilized company he had on Privet Drive and now he felt guilty because of his behavior toward her during this Sunday morning.

Harry lay back on his bed, counting the many dots on his ceiling and was reminded of the Astronomy class at Hogwarts; he shut his eyes and shook his head.

"Don't think about Hogwarts." He told himself. "Don't remember _him_." And just because he had said that, events started replaying in his mind. The ride with the Thestrals to the Department of Mysterious, the search for the non-exist prisoner of Lord Voldemort, the brain room, the arch, then the trap which Harry had lured his friends into.

He rolled over, trying to make himself as comfortable as possible so he would fall asleep, it seemed sleep was the only escape from these random flashbacks, though in his sleep he was tormented by the nightmares involving all his friends, teachers, and Order of the Phoenix members, blaming him for the death of Sirius Black, Harry's own godfather, and shunning him for life, ignoring his presence, and leaving him with the Dursleys for the rest of the summer. Harry knew this wasn't true, since Hermione and Ron, his two best friends, sent him constant letters, telling him they would pick him up soon.

At this thought, Harry rose and reached under his bed for the handy loose floor board which had saved his life countless times and got out the letters which he then placed in front of him on his bed. He picked one randomly and found it was from Hermione Granger, the date was the first day of summer. Harry opened it and suddenly heard Hermione's voice inside of his head when he started to read her letter.

_Harry,_

_How're you doing? I know it's only been one day but I can't help but worry about you, it's the nature of friends is it not? So when do you think we'll get our OWL results?_

Harry groaned after reading this, he forgot about the OWL examinations completely. Nevertheless, he continued to read, a smirk now on his face.

_I know for a fact I won't get all… what is it? Fourteen O.W.Ls? Aw I shouldn't be talking about O.W.Ls right now; it's just… just the first thing to come to mind whenever I think about Hogwarts. Work, study, work, and some more study. You know me well enough to know that right Harry? How're you doing? Oh Harry I can't help but worry… I'm repeating myself aren't I? What can I write to comfort you? It seems beyond me though I know one fact that MIGHT cheer you up. Apparently you'll be coming to number 12 Grimmauld Place soon. I'm unsure whether that would cheer you up or not since it was Si- his house._

_If you ARE coming I'll probably see you soon since I may be going there myself._

_Love,_

_Hermione Granger_

Harry frowned, reading it over again, looking right at _12 Grimmauld Place _if Hedwig were intercepted. Harry whipped his head at Hedwig. Noticing she was not injured and breathed once more, happy that she had not been intercepted. Harry then threw Hermione's letter to his desk where it floated – with great accuracy – neatly onto his desk. The-boy-who-lived then grabbed another letter randomly. This one was from his other friend Ronald Weasley, hearing his timid and worried voice, Harry started to read.

_Hey mate,_

_How're you doing? _(Funny how both letters started off like that…) _You coming to Headquarters right? _Harry couldn't help but correct Ron's mistake with a grunt. _We're all there right now. Come will you? I need someone to play Quidditch with. It's no fun playing with only Ginny. She's not that bad for not practicing with the rest of us but two players Quidditch isn't that great. By the way, I don't know if the news reached you, but Percy's disappeared. It was sudden and all and Mum's having a right fit about it. Apparently he just didn't come for work one day, and you know Percy as much as I do. That's NOT normal. Mum and Dad have been in a right fix, crying every hour blaming each other and themselves for his disappearance. They keep saying they shouldn't have cared if Percy would blab to Fudge, what would Fudge have done anyway?_

_Anyway don't worry about that git, just keep counting until your return to Hogwarts._

_Ron_

Harry's expression remained blank; he wondered why any would want to abduct Percy of all people. He thought, with a smile, of the constant babblings of the suck-up Weasley. The young wizard shook his head, tossing the letter onto his desk. He then picked another letter and his heart missed a beat. O.W.L results. He couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't looked over these letters before. With a sigh; he opened the letter.

_Mr. Potter_

_We are pleased to honor you with your excellent OWL results. You have accomplished what most students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have not. Your grades for the OWL examinations are as follows:_

_Charms:_

_Theory: E_

_Practical: E_

_Transfiguration _

_Theory: E_

_Practical: E_

_Herbology_

_Practical: A_

_Defense against the Dark Arts:_

_Theory: O_

_Practical: F (Flawless+1 Level bonus because of the Patronus)_

_Potions:_

_Theory: A_

_Practical: E_

_Care of Magical Creatures:_

_Practical: O_

_Astronomy:_

_Theory: A_

_Practical: P_

_Divination:_

_Practical: D_

_History of Magic:_

_Theory: A (+1 Level bonus because of sickness)_

_Summary: _

_Flawless (+100): 1_

_Outstanding (90 - 100): 2 _

_Exceeds Expectations (75 - 89): 5 _

_Acceptable (50 - 74): 3_

_Poor (31 - 49): 2_

_Dreadful (10 - 30): 1_

_Troll (0 - 9): 0_

_Average: 78 Exceeds Expectations (75 9 or 10 O.W.Ls)._

_Excellent Job Mr. Potter! You have achieved 11 out of 14 O.W.Ls which _Exceeds the Expectations _of our school! Congratulations Mr. Potter! Keep up the good work!_

_Note that your book list is on the next page enclosed in this letter._

_Minerva McGonagall._

_Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

Harry blinked a couple of times before releasing a long whistle of air. He smiled for the first time in a while before tossing the letter to the pile that was slowing building up. He grabbed the last unread letter and found it unsigned.

_We know where you and your friends are. Give yourself up and we won't hurt them. Go outside your house on the 31st of July at 6:00 p.m._

He laughed. Harry Potter laughed for minutes beyond minutes, tears pouring out of his eyes. How desperate were these Death Eaters? Were they just going to hope that Harry would send a letter pleading for help to Dumbledore? No.

The boy-who-lived looked up at his alarm clock, noon. Noon of the thirtieth, he didn't feel frightened of the Death Eaters, he thought they represented fodder for Voldemort, let them take the beating.

Actually Harry Potter wouldn't mind letting off some steam. Not at all…

The head of Harry Potter came into view with the opening of number four's front door. He looked on all sides, not seeing anyone; he knew the time was exactly 6:00. He smirked, knowing it was just a bluff. He walked out, confident in himself, knowing Voldemort – the only one Harry truly did not wish to see – wouldn't appear in front of all these Muggles. He walked to the driveway, and heard a voice that made the hairs on his neck stand up.

"Looks like Potty, has come at last." Harry turned, his wand whipping out and was now in his hand. The figure was cloaked, but the voice sounded hauntingly familiar.

"Bellatrix," Harry stated simply, knowing all to well what she had done to him.

"Ah, Potty seems to have some form of intelligence at last! Now then, I know all about your Order and where your headquarters is, you can thank your friend for that." Harry could sense that familiar grin behind the hood, though he couldn't care less about that grin, Hermione had given away the hideout for the entire Order!

"I have no idea what you are talking about, now can you please remove your stinking presence off this street?" Harry was bluffing obviously, but what other choice did he have? Bellatrix started to laugh.

"The Dark Lord wishes you were a Death Eater Potter, I can see why! You ARE funny. What do you say? Join us and we'll let your friends go." Harry frowned, wondering why Voldemort wanted him – his bane because of the prophecy – on his side.

"Why would Voldemort want me on your side?" Harry asked, somewhat curiously.

"Because you are a powerful wizard Potter, I say this honestly, we could use your skills." Bellatrix lost her baby voice it seemed, her voice sounded somewhat normal and quite angelic. Harry shook his head; this was just his weakened mind playing tricks on him.

_"Join… Join… Join Harry… you can bring back your parents… your friends will not die but rejoice!" _Harry jumped slightly at the sound of this second voice, it reminded him of the voice that always saved him from the _Imperius _curse, he thought for a bit, looked up at Bellatrix's hooded smile. He shook his head, her body quivered a bit.

"Now Potter…" She said cautiously. "Think about it… your friends… in Grimmauld Place… they will be killed." Now Harry knew this was no bluff, he had to join. He shook his head again, he then thought of the disbelieving expressions of all of his trusted friends. Lupin, his shabby robes looking even more then normal and his face pale white, no sounding come from his opened mouth, The Weasleys, all looks of mingled despair on their faces and the tears pouring from each of their eyes. The Auror Nymphadora Tonks, her usual upbeat expression replaced by a blank look of confusion, her hair color black and let down rather then bunched together, Sirius, Harry quivered slightly, his face looking more dark then ever and his grin, which was usually wide in Harry's presence, was now replaced by an expression from Azkaban, and Hermione.

Hermione… Harry couldn't help but laugh. Her name ringed loudly in his head, what would Hermione do? What would she say? As if on cue, her voice entered his head.

"HARRY! DON'T JOIN THEM!" Harry jumped, this time more noticeably. Both he and Bellatrix looked up at the nearby neighbour's driveway. There was Hermione, behind her more Order members. "HARRY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING! SHE KILLED SIRIUS!"

Harry quivered, how could she mention Sirius at this time, he looked back at Bellatrix, her face now showing real panic. She looked back at Harry.

"Harry..." The first time she had ever said his real name. "Don't let them kill me." Harry looked back and saw Kingsley stepping forward.

"Bellatrix Lestrange, you are hereby arrested for your crimes against the Wizarding community. Please surrender your wand and we will go quietly."

"HARRY! _AVADA KEDAVRA_!" The spell was shot at Kingsley who dodged it, Harry heard Kingsley cry the disarming spell, and he then pointed his wand at Bellatrix's head.

"If that is the case Bellatrix, you must die!" Kingsley shouted. "I have no choice but to end your life here."

That one second seemed to last an eternity, Harry was so torn between Bellatrix's changed behavior and the Order members, who seemed to ignore him completely. He looked over to Hermione, her brown hair glinting in the sunlight, her facial expression was fearful indeed; Harry could tell she was biting her tongue like she always did whenever she was nervous.

"K-Kingsley!" Harry shouted suddenly, Kingsley was mouthing the killing curse but he looked up at Harry, his face confused. "Let – let her go." Harry said, Kingsley's wand dropped, Harry heard Tonk's distinctive voice scream.

"Wh – what Harry? She killed… she killed Sirius!" The male Auror stuttered.

"I know she did, and she's going to pay for that, but she will go to Azkaban WITH a trial this time." Harry panted, seeing Kingsley's confused expression, Harry felt like he was playing the scene with Wormtail over again. Kingsley Shacklebolt picked up his wand, still looking at Harry with the same expression.

"She's still human Kingsley." The Boy-who-lived said sternly. "She's still like you and I… just give her a trial… one that you and I would have." Harry was surprised to see Kingsley nod slowly. The Auror ran his right hand through his lengthy brown hair, muttering slightly.

"Harry?" A familiar voice whispered from behind him, he turned around to face Hermione's face, only about two feet away. "

"Harry, she's a Death Eater. She killed your godfather!" Her eyes looked fearful still, but Harry knew she was speaking the truth. He sighed, turning away from her visage and deciding to look at the stony pavement.

"Hermione, you've got to understand, I loathe her for what she has become, but…" Harry stopped, not wanting others to overhear.

"But…?"

"Never mind," Harry gave her a look that said he would tell her later, she nodded. He looked over to see a crying Bellatrix, lying crumbled on the Dursley driveway.

"Thank you Harry…" She said breathlessly. "Thank you for treating me like a human…" that was the last thing Harry heard from her, Kingsley and two other Aurors Harry didn't recognize took her away, Harry could still hear her cries.

"That's two Death Eaters who now owe you a life-dept Harry." Harry didn't need to turn around to know who had said that. Albus Dumbledore stepped to the right side of Harry, looking at where Bellatrix was being taken away. "I daresay Voldemort will not be pleased today." He turned to face Harry, his face still looking as tired as ever. "I am merely estimating here, but am I to understand that she asked you to join the league of the Death Eaters?" Harry nodded too tired to say anything.

"And your response was…?"

"No." Harry finished. His voice not quivering anymore, he looked over to Hermione, who seemed to look even more tired and depressed than anyone, he quickly muttered an 'excuse me' to Dumbledore who nodded understandably.

Harry sat down to the grass spot next to his best friend, who looked too tired for comfort.

"It's my fault isn't it? It's my fault you nearly joined her… It's my fault that…that Bellatrix was here in the first place." She asked weakly; not looking up at him but somehow knowing it was Harry who was beside her. The wizard placed his arm, carefully, around her shoulders, patting her softly; she leaned on him, tears dripping from her eyes. "I'm so sorry Harry." she stated softly.

"Hermione, I would be lying if I said that this wasn't somewhat your fault. But think about it, we've caught the killer of Sirius, she will be brought to justice." This did not seem to make Hermione any better; she sniffed quietly and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"The Dementors have turned now; Azkaban will not hold anyone anymore. Bellatrix will be out in no time." She explained, in the same sad tone. Harry was helpless as to comforting her. Harry decided to take a stab at a change of topic.

"Where do you think the Order's going go now that Gimmauld place has been…?" Harry left his question hanging, turning away from her.

"I don't know, maybe Hogwarts?" Hermione suggested seeing her face so blank did not lighten his morale.

"That might not be a bad place to go," Harry looked up to see maroon haired Tonks, smiling. "I don't think Dumbledore will mind using that Room of Requirement for meeting places." Her smile lengthened.

"But wouldn't the Death Eaters children relay information to their parents?" Hermione pointed out, Harry noticed she had never shed a single tear and Harry was quite surprised.

"Yeah you're probably right, though it wasn't a bad suggestion!" Tonks, said clapping Hermione, on the shoulder, then going off inside the Dursley's house where Dumbledore was standing talking with the Dursleys.

Harry got up from the ground, brushing off his clothes and looked at Hermione, and noticed how sad she looked. Still tired, she would occasionally look up at the sky as if willing herself to fly away and escape from this tortured world, she stared up at Harry, their eyes meeting for a second, before Harry, smiled and waved, and he turned his attention to the fast growing crowd of Muggles who were coming to investigate what the commotion was about.

Harry, chose to ignore this, he turned around, and went inside the Dursley home, hearing Dumbledore explaining what had just occurred, with Tonk's occasionally sharing her input which usually involved a great struggle which she had always come out of victorious. Harry shook his head, unable to hide his smile; he went up to his room. He saw that Hedwig, being as intelligent as she was, had managed to find a way out of her cage. Deciding to buy a new cage for her when he next went to Diagon alley, he patted his pet on the head softly, and fell on his bed, falling asleep thinking this was a very eventful birthday indeed and hearing the soft and pleasant hooting of his pet snowy owl Hedwig.


	3. Chapter 2: Denial of Fate

Cry of a Restless Soul

Summary:  
Chapter two of Cry of a Restless Soul, the reader is now introduced to a German Wizard and Harry is rushed away from Privet Drive where he encounters two "_friend_" the inevitable outcome with this seemingly yearly union was dodged through new influences inside of Harry.

Disclaimer:  
I do not own any J.K Rowling created characters or names; I am merely duplicating her great work in the way I feel like articling events. The only character, for now, is Aran Schmitz who is introduced in the second chapter. I also do not own the title of the story or the chapter titles; they essentially belong to one of my favorite power metal bands, Lost Horizon. The next story will be the same, duplicating song titles from one of my many favorite metal bands. I do not intend to earn profit from this story and if I do end up selling it to someone I will distribute the profit accordingly to the owners of the many things in this story.

Chapter 2:

Denial of Fate

The summer weather felt sticky to most this year, the humidity kept most people of Privet Drive inside of their respective houses, though the newest event made Privet Drive residents strain, and omit the stickiness, to watch the actions of number four take place. Residents of Privet Drive always liked a good show, even though they despised the Dursley's extremely, they couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

At that very moment, in the house in question, Harry Potter's emerald eyes opened his vision groggy and distorted at first, but then clearing up, he saw his best friend, Hermione Granger, looking back at him, her face not showing any emotion at all.

"Morning," The young Witch said, Harry barely hearing it. He sat up; reaching for his glasses, he put them on and saw the world around him sharpen. Harry looked up to see his friend.

"Is it really morning?" Harry asked chuckling a bit at her shrug.

"You'll be leaving today, or so I hear." She told him, looking at him with blank eyes. Harry, who was running a hand through his hair, looked down at his blanketed feet and away from the emotionless stare.

"Really?" Harry responded after a minute of silence, Hermione nodded slightly, her face showing no emotion of happiness. "That makes you glad?" The Witch raised her eyebrows but nodded again, and he sighed.

"You know where'll you go?" She asked with a curious look on her slightly pale face. Harry sighed again.

"No I do not, you do don't you?"

"Professor Dumbledore said you'll be coming to my house." She answered, her tone still the same as ever.

"But wouldn-"

"Don't worry; he's got everything ready already." She said with a grin slowly creeping onto her face. Harry sighed, looking away from her. The silence that followed was only interrupted by Hedwig's non-patterned hooting from her cage.

"Err… what's wrong Harry?" She asked suddenly, breaking the silence. "Aren't you happy you're leaving?"

"Yeah I am, but it's not like there's any point of expressing it." Harry replied nonchalantly. Hermione looked stunned at this.

"What's wrong with you Harry?" She inquired. Harry couldn't help but relieve a small portion of the stress he had been feeling for the past few days.

"WHAT'S WRONG! VOLDEMORT IS BACK AND NOW INSTEAD OF INDANGERING THE DURSLEYS, who I wouldn't mind witnessing their murder, I ENDANGER ONE OF MY TWO BEST FRIENDS!"

"You're completely missing the point Ha-"

"I am _not _missing the poi-" but it was Hermione's turn to yell back.

"LOOK AT YOU HARRY! AS NOBLE AS EVER I SEE! THINK ABOUT IT WHY DON'CHA! DUMBLEDORE, who is possibly the most skilled wizard in the entire European Wizarding community, IS SETTING UP PROTECTIONS AROUND MY OWN HOUSE! _JUST_-_FOR_-_YOU_!" She emphasized each word of her last sentence quite clearly.

"Voldemort will find a way to break through, he always has. Didn't you see Bellatrix here? That's living proof that Voldemort's broken the shield left from my mother." Harry replied, in his usual casual, monotone voice.

"V-Voldemort will NOT find a way Harry, I can-"

"WHAT'S GOING ON UP THERE!" Harry sighed at this voice, his hands curling into fists; it was Uncle Vernon's voice.

"SHUT UP!" Harry yelled back, both Hogwarts students heard a distinct crack of wood, possibly furniture, and heard a roar of anger.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY BOY! COME DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" He replied with a tone that was even louder than his normal angry yell. Harry could sense the purple shade turning quite green on his face.

"I SAID SHUT UP UNCLE! NOW JUST LEAVE ME ALONE LIKE YOU ALWAYS HAVE!" The boy-who-lived yelled back, he lay back and couldn't help thinking how great a morning he was having.

"Harry-"

"Save it." Harry replied, closing his eyes. Minutes ticked by in total silence, Harry heard a chair rub against the wooden floor beneath them. Hermione had gotten up; Harry opened his eyes to watch Hermione look in the mirror inside of Harry's cupboard.

"By the way," Harry started to say; startling the other Gryffindor. "Why are you here?"

"Dumbledore asked me to keep an eye on you." She answered coolly. Harry chuckled and turned his head to observe Hedwig's current activity which was nibbling on a dead rat. The snowy owl turned her head so her large beady eyes were staring at Harry's emerald eyes. Harry blinked and looked back at Hermione who was now in a sitting position. Harry couldn't help but chuckle at her expression, an expression of pure sadness and despair. Harry could not think of any optimistic side of this summer, besides the fact that they were about to leave the forsaken place of the Dursley residence.

"Come on Hermione," Harry took a stab at cheering up his friend, her head whipped out immediately. "There's always a good side of everything isn't there?"

"Always a good side-" she repeated. "Yeah you're right Harry, you're right… as always." Harry snorted at this comment but Hermione looked happier than she had before, her face no longer shone with misery, but rather happiness.

"You're the know-it-all Hermione." Harry said simply, deciding to look away from her.

"Yeah, but you're the real wizard Harry. Books and cleverness! There are more important things Harry! Friendship – bravery, and-"

"You said that same thing a long time ago Hermione." The boy-who-lived pointed out and his friend nodded slightly. Harry's head started to move toward her now cheerful looking face.

"And it's still as true as it was then." She stated. "You're the one who can stand up to the dark. Ron, Neville, Ginny… we can't. We need a hero to follow Harry, you ar-"

"I'm no hero, I just know if I don't stand up to them, no one else will." Harry declared, turning away from those chocolate brown eyes.

"You're wrong Harry." She said suddenly, Harry's head crooked slowly, emerald eyes clashing with chocolate eyes. "You are the bravest person I have had the fortune of meeting and because of that I've lived these five years of my life at Hogwarts. Without you…"

"You wouldn't have survived." Harry finished for her, and then added. "I can say the same thing about you! Without you…"

"You wouldn't have made it through all the O.W.Ls…"

"Snape's riddle,"

"I wouldn't have been able to rescue Sirius alone," this comment made the wizard shake a bit, he frowned nodding again.

"The Triwizard tournament," Harry pointed out.

"And probably many more things Harry, we need each other and Ron of course. The three of us make a team so don't-" she was cut off by a yell from downstairs.

"WHO THE RUDDY HELL ARE YOU!" Harry could tell instantly that was his uncle's voice, having heard it on many occasions before this.

"We're here for Harry, and you're not going to stop us!" Harry's heart lightened. That was his other best friend's voice. Ron Weasley. Then the male Gryffindor heard the voice of Mrs. Weasley.

"Ron! I'm sorry Mr. Dursley we're her-" then she too was cut off.

"YOU COME BARGING IN HERE AND EXPECT ME TO COOPERATE!" Vernon bellowed again. This time another voice spoke.

"Get out of our way." It was a calm voice, calm but stern all the same. Harry was surprised he could hear it with the door closed.

"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!" Vernon yelled.

"NO ARAN!" This time it was Mr. Weasley's voice, panic echoed in his voice though. Harry supposed this "Aran" was the voice Harry did not recognize.

_"DURANE!" _The stranger's voice screamed. A few seconds passed in silence, presumably the spell's effect was in action right now. Then suddenly Mr. Weasley spoke again.

"That was unjustified Aran! Use the damn counter-curse!" Harry had never heard Mr. Weasley's voice sound that loud and angry.

"ARTHUR! NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN!" Mrs. Weasley screeched.

"Very well Molly, but Aran has to-"

"I'm on to it don't worry." A few seconds of silence echoed throughout the house before Harry heard his uncle's voice again.

"What did yo-"

"Do not fret Muggle." Aran's stern voice said. "Just keep your thoughts; however demented they are, behind those disgusting lips of yours and go about your business." It seemed Vernon obeyed this command, for Harry did not hear his voice again.

"Who do you think that was?" Hermione whispered from Harry's right.

"I have a feeling he's part of the Order." Harry stated he did not hear Hermione respond again. Harry then heard hurried footsteps, and his door opened quite abruptly and a red haired head poked itself inside.

"Hey mate'!" Ron Weasley said pleasantly, entering the room and sitting on the edge of Harry's bed. Both of the magicians whose names started with 'H' replied with a manner of greeting. "So what'd you reckon about Percy?" Harry was cut off guard here, he was expecting Ron to keep quiet about it, but then again his parents weren't anywhere near.

"Er- I don't know what to make of it." Harry responded nervously, he was uncertain on how he should have phrased it.

"I personally think he's gone into hiding." Both Harry and Ron looked up at their only female friend.

"Why would he though? He rarely tries to hide anything does he?" Harry asked not just Hermione but Ron as well.

"He was connected to Fudge you know." The Witch pointed out. "Seeing as Voldemort – oh Ron I thought you would be used to it by now – is out in the open now, he'll probably try to get as much information as possible from whoever may seem… useable."

"And once he's finished with him or her…." Ron shivered slightly.

"Remember the whole Bertha Jorkins incident? Voldemort was behind that as well so I don't see why he wouldn't be afraid to do it again." The boy-who-lived stated, his eyebrows creating a slight frown. He omitted Ron's uncomfortable squirm and continued to piece his thoughts together.

Hermione had a fair point about Percy, but would Percy's information honestly prove adequate? Harry looked up at his friends and found them both watching him with a look of interest.

"You were mumbling." Hermione answered Harry's thoughts.

"Did you catch what I was saying by any chance?"

"It sounded… distant we could see your lips moving, your eyes dimmed too… it was weird." The red haired wizard said quite slowly and Harry could tell he was putting some effort into keeping his voice even.

"Isn't your mum waiting?" Harry dodged the inevitable awkward situation with a question of his own.

"Oh yeah, completely forgot, let's go." He got off the bed, walking towards the door he exited. Harry saw, out of the corner of his left eye, Hermione had a slight frown on.

"What's going on Harry?" She asked firmly yet Harry felt no threat come with her voice.

"A lot Hermione, a lot," Harry answered truthfully and she snorted. "I've got to change Hermione." Harry said simply, a soft "oh" came from his friend and she hurried out of the room. Harry rose from his bed, changing quickly; he managed to get his protesting owl into the cage securely enough before leaving the room. He found both of his friends waiting for him patiently enough. Ron's usual content look was absent and replaced by a frown while Harry could not see Hermione's expression, he somehow knew that it mirrored Ron's; they didn't seem to notice Harry's appearance.

"Er-" the 'er' seemed to startle the two of them rather extensively. "Are we going to leave now?"

"Yes, yes of course." Hermione stuttered, going first down the stairs.

When Harry managed to reach the bottom of the step without damaging his trunk or Hedwig's cage even more, he looked around for the Weasley's family and sure enough he found them in the living room, trying horribly to act natural and friendly.

"Ah, here he is! Well met Harry!" Mr. Weasley said enthusiastically, any trace of the anger was now gone. "Let's go shall we?" Harry nodded.

"Wait a moment Weasley." Harry turned around, looking for the stranger. "They need to be disillusioned right?"

"Right, good thinking Aran, Harry who performed the disillusion charm on you last year?" Mr. Weasley turned to ask Harry, his blue eyes still as curious as ever.

"Moody," Harry said simply, long used to the attention of more than two people.

"Too bad he's not here eh?" Mr. Weasley said to his wife. "Well I'll give it a try…" Harry winced slightly at the oozing feeling the charm came with free of charge, Harry closed his eyes unconscious, thinking something might leak into his eyes.

"Not bad Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley said and Harry opened his emerald eyes to see Mr. Weasley's ears turn dark red.

"What about the other two?" Aran asked, his body leaning on wall opposite of Harry.

"I don't think they'll need it as much Aran." Mr. Weasley answered coolly, his tone of voice changing abruptly. To answer this Aran seemed to nod toward Hermione. Mr. Weasley looked confused for a point, then a second later a look of realization emerged, out of nowhere, on his face.

"Ok you two, it seems like you'll need to be disillusioned as well." Mr. Weasley told Harry's two friends. He mimicked the disillusionment of Harry on both Hermione and Ron. He then looked at Aran, who nodded. Mr. Weasley nodded back at him, a frown appearing on his face, he tore his gaze from Aran and looked back at the three sixth year students, a smile returning.

"Are we leaving soon? I'm getting tired of this nastily clean house." A voice spoke up from outside the room just as Mr. Weasley was starting to say something, Fred, and his twin George; Weasley entered the room, Harry couldn't see their expressions well enough, it seemed his glasses lost their effect with the disillusionment charm.

"Yes George. Oh Fred sorry. Yes we're going to leave soon, when we get the signal." He pointed his wand toward the window. "The sparks last year seemed quite daring, so we're trying something new." Mr. Weasley explained.

"What do you reckon the signal is?" Ron muttered to Harry.

"I don't know. Something not as obvious I'm guessing." He answered. Hermione snorted from behind the two.

"What's so funny?" Ron asked with a touch of anger in his voice.

"Harry's response," She answered simply and truthfully. "He just repeated what your dad said."

"Is that the case?" Ron replied, his anger rising drastically.

"Don't make a fuss please Ron." This reaction did not help dim Ron's anger, for the red haired Wizard's face was now a nasty shade of red.

"I'm tired of your know-it-all attitude Hermione! Just give us idiots a break will ya!"

"Well, it's not like you-" It seemed Ron was now competing with Harry's uncle's mad face.

"I DON'T CARE! DON'T YOU GET IT! I DON'T CARE!" Now every eye (except for Vernon Dursley's, who seemed to act like nothing had just happened) was on Ron Weasley. Hermione did not have tears in her eyes, but her sadness was evident.

"Fine Ron, I'll just shut my _know-it-all _mouth." Hermione then turned around and walked to the front door of the house, and out of sight.

"About damn time," Ron muttered so quietly that only Harry could hear him.

"Ron you shouldn't ha-" but Ron cut him off.

"Not now Harry, I need to savor the silence." Ron said shortly and coolly. Harry guessed that he didn't like Harry taking sides with Hermione, but in fact Harry didn't mind the silence that much. Though with the silence came the fuming attitudes of both his friends. Harry decided not to take sides; he knew it would lighten one's mood it would anger the other dramatically.

"You're Potter eh?" Harry's eyes darted from the floor to meet a face that was covered by a hood. Harry immediately reached for his wand, though he heard a chuckle come from behind the hood. "Good reflexes kid, though unneeded in this present moment, I am no enemy. Aran Schmitz," he said lowering his hood.

"That's not a British name is it?" Harry crooked to see Hermione walking over. The boy-who-lived also saw a scowl come from his other friend, Ron Weasley who quickly moved over to his father.

"No it is not, I come from Germany. I recently learned of the Order of the Phoenix and their objectives concerning the destruction of the Death Eater race." He answered quickly, Harry noticed (for the first time) his accent and how different it sounded then the rest of people he knew.

Hermione continued to pester him with multiple questions concerning Germany and its many attractions; Harry felt his interest quickly slip away. He decided to soak in Aran's appearance. He could not tell what eye color Aran had but all he could see was that they were a dark color. His white face was far from pale but yet it had no dark look on it, it seemed it was a normal color, not pale, not dark. Harry looked away from the newest wizard to enter his life and just in time too. It seemed Mr. Weasley had spotted the signal.

"The signal's gone, let's go." He said quickly and suddenly, he turned away from the window and beckoned the few wizards and witches in the Dursley residence away. When everyone except Harry and Mr. Weasley left, he motioned for him to stop just outside of the front door.

"I didn't do it." At this comment, the father of seven red haired children smiled widely.

"Don't worry; you're not in trouble Harry. I just wanted to mention that your aunt and your cousin are both at the… what was it called? The sick people place." Mr. Weasley started to scratch his chin.

"Er… hospital?" Harry pointed out tentatively.

"Ah yes! The house-pitol." Mr. Weasley said cheerfully. "Yes, your aunt and cousin went there to visit a sick family member. Forget which though. An aunt with lot's of dogs I think." Harry snorted, seeing, in his mind's eye, Aunt Marge chocking on a doggy biscuit.

"So?" Harry asked coolly, starting to walk on.

"I – I just thought you ought to know Harry. Seeing as they ARE your only relatives alive today." Harry snorted at this.

"They don't care I'm related to them, so why should I?" Mr. Weasley stopped and stared at Harry; the young wizard chose to ignore this and kept walking without looking back.

"What'd you say to my dad?" Ron asked curiously when Harry managed to find him and Hermione (the non-talking issue seemed to have passed).

"Nothing," Harry answered a bit too quickly.

"Well he looked a bit shocked at _'nothing'_." Hermione said, her tone cool.

"I thought I just told you to keep your mouth shut." Ron said sharply, a frown appearing on his face.

"What's gotten into you Ron?" Hermione countered, not trying to sound offensive; however Ron seemed to think of that response as a declaration of war, by his first snort Harry had ever heard come from him. "We're _friends _remember?"

"The way you're acting, Granger, I doubt we'll be _friends _any longer." He said nastily, Harry couldn't help but see some resemblance in Draco Malfoy in that statement.

"Ron, can you hear yourself!" Harry asked, letting his anger seep out. He could sense Ron's surprised look.

"Harry – you're siding with _her_?" Even a blind person could see the surprise on his face.

"You don't have to pity me Har-" Hermione started but Harry's anger was now great.

"Are you saying that; you, Ron, are absolutely tired of Hermione's "know-it-all" attitude!" He interrupted.

"Yes I am Harry, and if you're siding with her, then you… you…"

"I'm… I'm WHAT!" Harry asked, not bothering to hide his frustration. He could tell that Ron had winced because of that even though he was party imperceptible. "That if I'm Hermione's friend then you won't call me a friend anymore?"

"Well… no not really…"

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO-"

"Harry! Please stop, this is just one of our usual bitter arguments about nothin-" Hermione cut him off, her tone pleadingly.

"No really Hermione, let him answer." Harry fell silent, looking at (he thought) Ron's face. Ron made several attempts at a start of a conversation.

"Mate, I'm sorry." The red haired wizard said defeated.

"You're forgetting someone." Harry pointed out coolly.

"Sorry He-"

"Save it Ron." Hermione cut in and Harry sighed, knowing this was going nowhere.

"I'll leave it at that I suppose… you sounded too much like Malfoy for my liking Ron. I had to cut in, now, it seems like the rest of them are well ahead of us and seeing as we aren't… aren't…"

"Visible." Hermione ended.

"Yeah, they don't know we're this far behind. So, let's go." And so they did, leaving the Dursley residence far behind.

When the three friends caught up with the rest of the group, they had arrived at an intersection Harry did not recognize. He looked for a sign but before he found it, someone spoke up.

"Where are we Arthur?" It was Mrs. Weasley.

"It's weird looking at it at this angle, but this is the rendezvous point, according to Alastor." Harry had to think for a moment to realize who they were talking about, then he figured out it was Mad-eye Moody, their supposed Defense against the Dark Arts teacher who actually didn't teach for a minute of the entire year.

"Why didn't we just use a Portkey? Isn't the Ministry on our side now?" Harry muttered to the closest person to him, who happened to be Hermione, she responded with a somewhat shrug (it was difficult to tell, seeing as all of them were fairly invisible).

"Apparently they're electing a new Minister of Magic, at least that's the rumor, it makes sense too since the Ministry is in a reckless state. They've been punishing people for the smallest of things." She answered whispering sharply.

"Why?"

"So Fudge would gain favor, people would think he thought every law should be approved. He's trying to show the public that he honors everything, except maybe a select few things." She mumbled back to him.

"And those few things are…?" The boy-who-lived asked uncertainly.

"MUGGLE-BORNS!" Hermione shouted, everyone around them turning to her.

"Look at her babble again…" Harry heard Ron mutter disgustingly.

"Hermione, keep your voice down, remember where we are!" Mr. Weasley muttered sharply as a few people glanced right at her. It seemed like Hermione nodded again.

"I seem to be messing up a lot don't I?" Her voice sounded as though it were raised by two octaves from her usual tone.

"Everyone's on the edge don't worry Hermione." Harry told her, trying to comfort her.

"You seem to be the only one on my side right now Harry." She told him honestly, Harry glanced around at the rest of the party and noticed no one gazed, even remotely close, to where Hermione and Harry were. From what the wizard could see, he saw Mrs. Weasley muttering, trying to make her lips look still, to where Ron seemed to be.

"You're right. It seems like the Weasleys have tried to distant themselves from you. Oh yeah, what were you saying about Fudge?"

"Uh?" Hermione's confused voice replied. "Oh right, er- he's been… very… I don't know how to say this… he's been acting violent towards Muggle-borns it seems. He's been babbling about all Muggle-borns being made of trash… and other gibberish like that."

"Has he? That's interesting; he'll get the pure blooded votes. That's about it. Come to think of it, how does the voting system work here?" Harry was planning to pass the time through learning as much as he could of what had happened recently.

"Ah, there he is." Mr. Weasley's voice spoke up abruptly. Harry squinted, and recognized the familiar hat of Mad-eye Moody. It seems they had been waiting for the other, and older, Order member.

"Sorry about the wait, I ran into some trouble back there. Let's leave quickly." He grunted quickly.

"Wait Moody, what trouble?" Moody snorted, pointed a finger behind him. When Harry finally got a chance to look at what Moody was pointing at, he gulped. Two people, in long black cloaks, were walking calmly right toward them; pushing innocent Muggles who were going about their business as usual, out of the way, not caring about their surprised expressions.

"RUN!" The father Weasley yelled, though he didn't need to yell that, since everyone had started to run amok before he said that. Harry heard no footsteps coming from his Witch friend; he reached out in mid-air and grabbed Hermione to push her forward. She started to run ahead, stopped to turn around and gaze at Harry, who was standing firmly his back to Hermione and his wand out.

"HARRY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING!" The Witch shrieked. "THEY'RE HERE FOR YOU!" She didn't seem to care that the Muggles were now watching her very intently. Harry just noticed, as he turned back to look at her one last time, that he could see Hermione, he looked at his arm and he could see his white hand gripping the yew wand tightly. The disillusionment charm was gone. Harry ignored that, keeping to the situation at hand.

"Keep running Hermione. Like you said, they're here for me, I'll give em' what they want."  
"You're giving up?" Hermione asked, now confused.

"Hermione, have I EVER given up!" The Boy-who-lived asked frustrated.

"Well no-"

"EXACTLY, NOW GO!" Harry shouted, turning away from his shocked friend's face, and toward the two, newly emerged, opponents.

"Looks like Potty's had some sense knocked into him at last." Harry instantly recognized the voice's owner, Lucius Malfoy.

"Ah, he has finally seen there can be no fight against the Dark Lord." Harry did recognize this voice, yet he was his own age.

"Malfoy! What the hell are you-"

"Potter, I'm going to prove to you who's better then who now, _this _is for the Dark Lord!" Malfoy's voice did not sound cocky and arrogant like it usually did in school, he sounded cold… heartless now even. For the first time in his life, Harry felt a sense of fear toward Malfoy.

Harry frowned, his wand up and in front of him.

"So the _Dark Lord's _got you Pure Bloods doing his dirty work for him eh? You come here, with no backup in sight, into a crowd of Order members begging for me?" Harry laughed openly spitting on the ground. "Dumbledore's said a couple of times that Voldemort's resourceful, I don't see any resourcefulness in this _"attack" _just utter stupidity."

"We do not question the Dark Lord's orders; we are his most faithful servants." Harry laughed again.

"I thought you Malfoy's would be above this, you must have at least _something _stuck in that rock on your head. Just leave, and tell your very _forgiving _master that you couldn't kill innocent Harry Potter."

"HARRY!" Harry winced slightly, losing the edge on the inevitable fight.

"I knew this would happen, I shall deal with her." Lucius's wand came out with a snap it pointed directly at Hermione.

"NO! HERMION-" even before he finished saying her name, Lucius had uttered the curse.

"_Crucio,_" the incantation was simple enough, yet watching Hermione crumple on to the ground, her bag flying away, and her screams echoing around the now crowded street.

"We have to let her live you see. That's why we've come here, to punish you in a different way." Malfoy's voice came from behind Harry, who did not seem to have noticed, he felt helpless, watching his best friend crumple on the ground, crying out words barely audible.

"Ha- H…" Hermione whispered; her wand still clutched in her grasp. Harry let his fury release itself; he turned to Lucius Malfoy, who had a sneered grin plastered on his visage. His anger could not be grasped at this time; no spell could comprehend his rage. He leaped at Lucius, the elderly wizard was caught off-guard, the spell broke contact, and Lucius fell to the ground with Harry on top of him, slamming his fists into his skull.

"Ha-Harry no!" Hermione's cry came distinct; Harry just started to notice the cries coming from Malfoy about his father. Harry ignored both and continued to pound the defenseless wizard.

"_REDUCTO!"_ The spell shot Harry off the elder Malfoy's chest and he felt his back smash into a nearby fence. He omitted the pain though, and started to run toward the now rising and weak Lucius Malfoy.

"HARRY! STOP!" Harry continued to ignore his friend's howl's, but let his foot crash into Lucius Malfoy's face, sending him back onto the ground, clutching his cheek.

"You… wil-l n-n-ever to-u-ch her AGAIN, you hear me! TELL THAT – to your idiotic master." Harry panted his rage still fully evident.

"YOU will pay for that Potter." The younger Malfoy came forward, pointing his wand at Harry, his mouth opened to utter a curse but Harry fixed his stare right on Malfoy, catching his rival off-guard and saw his wand fall to the ground, Harry laughed eerily, the Boy-who-lived noticed the change in his tone, the new growl added in.

"H-harry… what…?" Hermione's whimper echoed around the silent street. Harry's eyes moved to her and he raised his eyebrows.

"I feel… different Hermione. In a good way too I might add." He said simply, a smirk appeared on his face, a smirk that Harry doubted Hermione had ever seen before.

"Harry." The girl said simply, rushing to her bag and pulling out a mirror. Harry put a look of puzzlement on his face and looked back in the mirror after Hermione brought it back. The Boy-who-lived couldn't hold back a gasp at what he saw.

His emerald eyes had been replaced by fiery red; it actually looked quite fiery, since flames danced inside of both eyes. His face seemed a bit paled too, other then that though, Harry still looked as tired as ever.

"Hermione, what…?" Harry asked her, completely lost.

"May… I interrupt…?" A pant rose from behind Harry, he spun on his heels to face the panting Lucius Malfoy. "You… WILL pay-y for this Potter, I have escaped Azka-caban and Bellatrix will as well… will as well, we'll both see to it that we share your kill." With that he disapparited, it seems that the younger Malfoy did as well, for he was nowhere in sight.

"Sickening, aren't they Hermione?" His tone sounded cold and distant, Harry could not hear himself it seemed.

"Harry, you're not yourself." His whole body whipped around, his night black hair covering the top of his eyes, yet he doubted Hermione could not see the burning red eyes.

"You don't think this i-" Harry started, but then he noticed their other friend running madly towards them. Panting and sweating, Ron Weasley came to a sudden stop in front of the two of them. Hermione was still had the mirror in her white knuckles, she hadn't seemed to notice Ron's presence.

"Where've… yo..u two been!" Ron slowly regained his breath back and Hermione just turned to face him after he was half way through his dialogue. "I've been searching… for you… everywhere." Ron had his hands on his knees, panting still.

"Except for here it seems. Harry stayed to duel with the two visitors." Hermione said simply, her gaze moving speedily from Ron's face to Harry's. Harry knew instantly that she wanted an explanation to his action.

"WHAT! WHERE ARE THEY!" Ron looked around wildly then Hermione suddenly snorted, his head whipped back to the witch's at once.

"Do you think Harry and I would still be here if they were here at this moment?" Hermione asked coldly.

"What's wrong with trying to help me _friends_?" Ron contradicted with another question of his own.

"It's just panicking isn't going to do us _any _good. What we need to do right now is find your family. Without them…" Hermione speech trailed off, knowing full well what Harry and Ron knew would happen.

"Hermione's right, we'v… I've wasted too much time. We should've been at your house by now! Come on." With that said, Harry ran off in the direction Ron had come before.

"Harry! Ron should lead!" Harry's best female friend cried out, making him stop and turn around. Nodding to Ron, he fell in step behind him and next to Hermione.

"Now where was it? It looks so different from this angle…" Ron mumbled to himself.

"You two will never stop bickering will you?" Harry muttered to his friend next to him who ran a hand through her hair. Breathing a bit, she gulped a bucket full of air and then started to speak, panting all the while.

"It's our nat…ture, I can't help-p bu-but insult him at ev-very little thing… he does." Harry nodded and kept his mouth shut, he knew talking and running at full speed was not a good combination, especially for someone like Hermione; who, for one was female, probably did not exercise a lot.

Though that's why Harry was so fond of her, she didn't care what other people thought of her, just that she satisfied herself. She didn't need to use all these useless products to make her look "_prettier_" like other girls her age. She didn't need to spend hours in front of a mirror just to spend a day with a couple of friends and attend classes. She just didn't _care _what other people thought of her. Harry thought this was the best attitude someone could have, just to look like you not some model taken out of a store or movie, just look and feel like yourself.

Harry noticed his feet were moving his body for him, while he had been thinking, his feet had turned around streets, corners, cars, and other paraphernalia, he also noticed Ron was getting farther and farther away from Hermione and him. Harry Potter then noticed Hermione's tired expression, sweat pouring down his face; he stopped his friend and called out to Ron.

"RON! RON WHERE ARE YOU?" He called out, Hermione looking puzzled. He looked back at Hermione's tired face. "You need a rest, someone like you who hasn't done this much running ever needs some rest."

Harry's eyes darted back up to the misty road. Harry squinted, trying to find any indication of where Ron had gone.

"Why is there so much mist?" Hermione asked breathlessly, it seemed she did in fact need rest.

"Come to think of it, I didn't notice the mist before." Harry said more to himself than Hermione. He set Hermione on the ground, where she took a few deep breaths, and pulled his wand out. Letting his eyes dart around the two of them.

"RON!" He attempted another feeble cry to find Ron. But to no avail, the Boy-who-lived sighed and turned back to Hermione and shrugged.

"We're lost aren't we?" She asked, knowing the answer even before Harry nodded.

"I've never seen this area before." Harry stated, setting himself down beside his friend and leaning against the fountain wall behind him, he thought about their very limited options. "Got any ideas?" He asked closing his eyes.

"I say we wait, Ron will notice we're gone soon enough and he'll retrace his steps." Harry opened his eyes to reveal two emerald dots; he turned them to face Hermione's chocolate brown ones.

"Now the question is-" Harry started.

"Will he be able to do that?" Hermione finished, and the two of them chuckled. Hermione released the eye lock, and looked around them. "The fog has increased hasn't it? There used to be a building over there." She indicated a now large patch of white mist.

"Yeah," Harry mumbled his agreement. "Hey, why aren't any people around?" Hermione got up suddenly and Harry looked up at her with a questioning gaze.

"I just remembered," She stated abruptly. She turned to face Harry, her eyes wide. "Dementors, create fog when they're close by don't they?"

"Yeah… yeah they do." Harry said getting up; he distinctly remembered the fog from his brief encounter with Dementors the previous summer. He got out his wand again and Hermione mimicked him.

"Why haven't we felt the effects of the Dementor yet?" Hermione asked no one in particular. Silence echoed eerily around the square. Both of the Gryffindors decided to keep the silence going so they would be alert if something were to approach. And indeed something did approach, though it was neither a Dementor nor a Death Eater.


	4. Chapter 3: Perfect Warriors

Cry of a Restless Soul

Summary:  
Chapter three of the first in the Legacy Chronicles. The plot starts to come into view here, a dark object appears in an unlikely person's hands, the reader is introduced to Hermione Granger's parents as well as an unlikely antagonist. Depressed people come in and out of this chapter, and a "friend" is disgregarded. Enjoy!

Disclaimer:  
See last chapter... i'm getting tired of copying and pasting...

Chapter 3:

Perfect Warriors

Coming out of the mist, making the ground shake slightly, was Rubeus Hagrid. His beardy face truly lightened both of the Gryffindors spirits, making them both breathe easy and go to greet him cheerfully.

"Hagrid!" Hermione exclaimed, not bothering to conceal her shock. Hagrid laughed cheekily at this.

"Come on ye two. Molly's had a real fit she has." He said, Harry and Hermione nodded, putting away their wands and following Hagrid.

"Have you seen Ron, Hagrid?" Harry asked his older friend.

"Yea, he was right disappointed, kep' saying how stupid he was." Hagrid replied, his tone using the same dynamical range. Harry looked at Hermione's expression and was surprised to see it the same as before. It seemed Ron's safety did not trigger anything inside of Hermione.

In truth, Harry wouldn't have been surprised if Hermione was relieved he, and along with a lot of other people, thought the two of them would eventually start fancying each other, Harry felt himself look at the ground. If those two got together that would probably start to push him away from them. Truthfully, the sole Potter would not enjoy anyone else's company over those two, he looked back up in front of him and was surprised to see both Hermione's and Hagrid's eyes on him.

"What, something wrong?" Harry felt his eyebrows rise and Hermione frowned.

"You were muttering again," she stated.

"Was I? Well, I didn't notice. It probably wasn't anything important anyway." Harry said dismissively, making a slapping gesture with his right hand to indicate to his friends to forget about it.

"Whatever ye say 'Arry," the half-giant said, turning back to start marching onward. The rest of the journey was peaceful enough, the mist didn't part at any point yet Harry got used to it, he kept his wand tucked in his belt so he would have quick and easy access to it, his dark emerald eyes darted all around his line of sight, making sure nothing was approaching them.

Soon enough, the original party that departed from Privet Drive was in sight. All of them look relieved at the arrival of Harry and Hermione, even Aran who seemed quite worried that Death Eaters would turn up before Hagrid got to them.

"I don't know I can thank you Hagrid." Harry heard Mrs. Weasley say to Hagrid as she gave both Hermione and himself hugs.

"Don't ye worry about thanking me Molly, just keep em' safe," he grunted, then turned and left without saying another word.

"Wonder why he left so soon." Hermione said when Mrs. Weasley had left the two of them and went to go talk with her husband.

"So many questions," Harry stated suddenly. He turned away from Hermione when he felt an arm grasp his shoulder.

"Sorry about that mate'," it was Ron apologizing for running ahead. "I made it back fine, but I was thinking about l… other things." Harry frowned at this but he just shook his head. "I just got distracted, so I lost track of you two."

"Thanks to Hagrid and Harry I'm still alive." Hermione said, beaming at Harry. Harry snorted, which made her beamed expression changed sourly.

"I let us get into this situation Hermione." Harry told her truthfully. "I could have easily let you suffer because of cramps but I had to be that _noble id-_"

"Don't say that Harry." She interrupted firmly. "It's what makes you, you, none of us can ask for more then that." She frowned but then let it disappear and replaced it with a smile. Harry couldn't think of anything to say to his female friend, so he curved his body and looked back at his male friend.

"Ron-" Harry started but Ron held up a hand to stop him from saying anymore.

"I – I owe you something now Harry." He told Harry, moving back to his trunk to find anything of worth.

"Ron no I-" It seemed that Ron would not let Harry say anything.

"No Harry! No modesty needed here! I give you something, you accept, we go on with our lives!" He didn't look at him, but when Harry saw Hermione's look of admiration, he knew he had touched a nerve. "Yes!" Harry tore his eyes from Hermione and looked back at Ron whose head was stuffed into his trunk.

"Ron what're you doing?" Harry asked, unable to hide the grin now spreading over his face.

"Like I said, I'm giving you something of worth!" His head then rose out of the trunk, quite abruptly, hitting his head on the roof of the trunk.

Harry couldn't hide his laugh after Hermione quietly giggled. Then, triumphantly, he presented a bag. Harry, his grin disappearing quickly, gazed at the purple bag, even though it fit perfectly in Ron's palm, he couldn't help but notice it seemed to float above his grasp.

"Ron-" Hermione spoke unexpectedly making Harry's eyes fall instantly into hers. "Where did you get that?"

"Fred, he said the old owner didn't want it anymore, and that he didn't want it either. No one will buy it for some reason. So he gave it to me." Ron answered truthfully.

"How can you tell what's in there without even looking inside?" Harry asked Hermione intriguingly, she moved her stare into Harry's and for a moment that, in reality, lasted a second; their eyes were locked together.

"Well, I've read quite a bit on the subject of Dark objects-" she said quickly, moving her chocolate eyes back to the dark purple satchel resting in Ron's outward hand.

"That's not surprising," Harry said mildly, and then added. "Wait, you said Dark objects?" She nodded.

"Inside of that satchel is… is something not good," she stated lamely and Ron let out a laugh. "How the previous owner of that store came about it is another story, but you, Harry, cannot accept that." She said quickly, moving her eyes back to his emerald ones.

"Is the Dark in it _that _great?" Hermione shrugged.

"It _is_ called the Stone of the Damned, I don't know if that sounds very _Dark _to you." She said, crossing her arms and looking away, her brown locks moving with the slight wind.

"Sounds pretty cliché, care to tell us what it is?" Ron said irritated.

"I'm getting to it alright!" She uncrossed her arms and frowned, looking at seemingly nothing; she continued. "When the holder of the stone k-kills someone it absorbs the victim's – the victim's soul."

"That's it?" Ron said suddenly in the ensuing silence.

"Well, if the Stone starts to hold too many souls, it will release them all and the souls, being as corrupted as they are because of the stone, will – will…" Hermione stopped, looking at the ground.

"What will they do Hermione?" Harry asked, no anger or impatient behavior hinted in his voice but a curious tone seemed to cling to his words.

"I don't know." The _know-it-all _Witch said for the first time. Harry was taken aback.

"Hermione doesn't know something!" Ron exclaimed, a smile broadening on his face.

"It hasn't happened before." She said quickly, a red shade appearing on each of her two cheeks. "Once the holder of the stone dies the souls just… they just… disappear. Leaving the stone empty for the next master. Never has one person murdered enough people, cruelly enough because that's what you're supposed to do to keep the soul intact and restless inside of the stone.

"Never has one person ever murdered enough to release the souls into the world. The last person to come even close was… thought to be a Muggle."

"Really? Goes to show you don't have to have magic to be evil." The Boy-who-lived said bluntly. "Who was it?"

"Jack the Ripper." The name it self ran shivers down Harry's spine. In his mind's eye; he cursed the Dursleys again from keeping him in the dark.

"Jack the Ripper… who was he?" Harry asked quietly and slowly.

"I don't know how long ago, but London was tainted with a series of brutal killings, they never found the killer, but he left notes everywhere saying he was called _Jack the Ripper_.

"A theory," Hermione continued. "Of how Jack actually died, was his obsession with the stone, the theory states that he was so consumed by the prospect of releasing all of those souls into the world actually consumed his own soul, the stone swallowing his demented soul."

"So Jack the Ripper became soulless? That's why he stopped killing people?" Harry mumbled to no one in particular, choosing to stare at the ground.

"It's a theory," Hermione answered. "He probably killed himself because of his soulless existence, but he WAS a Muggle, all of the bodies proved that, a wizard would have done worse. The Ministry didn't want to get involved with Muggle murders so they let Jack go on." Hermione said, walking forward and avoiding the eyes of her two friends.

"The Ministry let him kill more people!" Harry exclaimed, outraged. Hermione stopped and turned back to him and nodded.

"Harry, that was the past, this is the present. The Ministry has never had a high reputation and it will continue unless we can get someone who _we _can count on to make a significant difference." Hermione told him firmly, Harry nodded mutely.

"We should get going, oh and Ron, I suggest you keep that safe." Harry said, leading the way to the rest of the party who had seemed to forgotten about the trio of sixth years.

"But Harry-" Ron started to protest but Harry held a hand up.

"Come on, keep it safe." He said simply, leading his two best friends, their trunks in tow, to Hermione Granger's house.

Hermione's house anything but spectacular, it had, Harry thought, a pleasing feeling more then the Dursley's house could _ever _conjure. As the party approached the house, Harry couldn't help but notice the enjoyable atmosphere that seemed to surround the house. Harry stopped, panting slightly from the weight of his trunk, and wondering why they didn't ride their respective brooms here, and looked up at the brown and red bricked house.

From the outside, it looked like it had two floors, no doubt there was a basement as well, and Harry thought of the cold air that always came free with any basement and resolved to move his bedroom down there, with Hermione's permission of course.

"Well, welcome to the Granger residence!" Hermione said, startling Harry for a moment. Harry gave her a smile, which she returned with an even wider one.

"I guess first impressions aren't always the best," Harry said shyly, trying to be as polite as possible. "But from the looks of it, it looks… well… it looks better then the Dursleys could ever." He finished, letting Hermione's smile blossom even more.

"You two coming?" Harry tore his gaze from Hermione's revealed pearly teeth and looked up to see Aran; the newest wizard to enter the life of Harry Potter.

"Yeah – yeah we are." The Boy-who-lived said uneasily, something about Aran kept Harry wary and alert whenever he was around him. Aran turned swiftly, his cloak billowing behind him, for a moment Harry was reminded of Snape. Harry frowned at the resemblance between them and glared at Aran's retreating back.

"He reminds me of Snape." Hermione said as if reading Harry's mind.

"I swear you would make a great Legilimens you know." Hermione blushed but continued to walk toward her house, Harry noticed everyone else was already inside.

"Why would you say that?" She asked, trying to hide her pride.

"I thought the same thing. I thought you would realize _that _much Hermione, but maybe the _know-it-all _title doesn't fit you anymore." Harry said, grinning down at his shorter friend. True Harry was not a tall person, but he was still tall enough to have to look down on Hermione.

"Ah, Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger have finally decided to join us." Harry wasn't expecting this newest voice. The voice of, possibly, the most powerful wizard on the planet.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry spoke quietly; he heard a slight chuckle and stood face to face with an old man, Albus Dumbledore.

"I have been called that many times yes, may I have the pleasure of introducing you too Mr. and Mrs. Granger?" Harry nodded slightly, still surprised at Dumbledore's presence. Seeing as Dumbledore tried his best to avoid Harry the last year, then again, Harry still had the threat of Voldemort looming inside of him.

"This is Joshua Granger, the father of your young friend." He said indicating a tall man with short brown hair. Harry could see some resemblance of Hermione in him, though tall, he was fairly thin and had the same face and head shape as Hermione. Harry nodded to him, raising a hand.

"Hi-" Harry said lamely, Ron could help but laugh a bit; Harry shot him a glare, Harry was suddenly reminded of the way he was acting back in his first year, so blissful. Harry smiled to himself, hoping this little interaction meant something in the long run. He could hear his greeting being replied by Mr. Granger.

"And this," Dumbledore continued. "Is Mia Granger." Now Harry could see a total resemblance in Hermione, her curly brown locks were identical to Hermione's and her light brown eyes seemed to be a less powerful version of Hermione's, though, looking back at her father, his eye color was identical to his wife's, so it was possible Hermione took the full brunt of both eye colors.

"Hello." Harry said, not as lamely. She smiled slightly and replied with a cheerful sounding "hello."

"Mr. and Mrs. Granger, this Harry Potter; a devoted friend of your daughter who has assisted her in several occasions," Harry couldn't help but look away from the many eyes placed on him.

"I could say the same thing about Hermione." Harry heard himself say; he couldn't help but agree with it. This response was greeted by a few laughs.

"Now Harry, you must be wondering why I have chosen to leave you here of all places." Harry shrugged at this.

"I wouldn't mind an explanation." He said honestly and Dumbledore's smile lengthened.

"You really know how to bring humor in the darkest of times Harry." Dumbledore replied proudly, Harry looked up at his eyes, hidden behind the half-moon spectacles he was wearing. Harry couldn't help but see him as more of a father or friend than a professor in those few seconds of eye contact; he knew Dumbledore cared for him more than other students, and he himself had felt a certain fatherly bond between him and Dumbledore.

"I try my best." Harry replied looking away from the old wizard, he could hear Dumbledore's distinctive chuckle again.

"Now then, I thought Voldemort," he, Harry, and Hermione ignored the shivers all around them. Harry, out of the corner of his eye, noticed that Aran did not tremble. "Would least expect you to come here, he does not know of the Muggle-born Ms. Granger's existence just yet, though I believe young Mr. Malfoy has informed the enemy of your close friendship."

"Will the family be protected though?" Harry asked making Dumbledore's grin diminish.

"Of course, along with you as well, Order members have been stationed around the house as well as numerous protection charms, this house could not be more protected then the previous headquarters, which is being evacuated as we speak."

"Because of Hermione's letter?" Dumbledore nodded slightly.

"Though, long before she sent the letter, Bellatrix Lestrange legally inherited the house. Even though she is in a Dementor free prison she most likely has, like young Mr, Malfoy, informed her master of the residence." Dumbledore explained. Just as the Boy-who-lived was about to open his mouth to ask another question, someone else spoke up.

"We should be leaving soon Albus." It was Aran; Dumbledore nodded and motioned to the Weasleys to exit.

"See you later then." Ron said briefly to the two of them. "Oh, I actually think you would take better care of this rock thing." He took out the purple satchel again and handed it Harry who, with a reluctant sigh, accepted it. It felt weightless, though he noticed it still seemed to float just over his palm. He felt something inside of him stir quite profoundly, but the Boy-who-lived ignored it, quickly stuffing it clumsily into his right pocket.

"I'll see you soon, don't worry." He repeated, running outside to wait. It seemed each person wanted to say goodbye to him individually for, out of the corner of his right emerald eye, he saw Mrs. Weasley approach.

"You're going to be ok Harry. I just know it." Harry saw Mrs. Weasley's face rather close to his. He felt himself back away slightly but then she gripped him tightly, it didn't hurt, but it was just a way to get him to stand still. "You've got to take care of each other, understand me? We'll come by every now and then but the way things are right now…" She left the sentence hanging, instead kissing him on the forehead and moving to Hermione, she mirrored her previous actions on her, and then waved to both of them, straining a smile.

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley." Harry and Hermione both said in unison, smiling, she followed Ron. The youngest, and oldest, Potter then looked away from the person whom he considered his own mother, to face her husband.

"Like Molly just said, you two'll be ok; we'll come around as much as we can you hear? I heard from Albus that you were rightly mad about being in the dark last year. We'll make sure to keep you up-to-date with everything in the Order." Harry could tell he was speaking both of the sixth year students present, for his eyes jumped back and forth between the two of them.

"Does that mean we're in the Order?" Harry chuckled slightly when Hermione asked this, not bothering to hide her agitation.

"Not exactly, you two are, quite possibly, the most skill children, who are still at Hogwarts, we have on our side. So you're important to us, and all of the members have agreed to keep you in the light." Mr. Weasley grinned. "You'll both be inducted into the Order, officially, soon enough along with Ron as well. Don't worry. Keep yourselves busy now, goodbye." Mr. Weasley waved to them both, leaving the house with his back turned to them.

Then out came Dumbledore, who shook both of their hands and wished them luck, then followed the rest of the Weasley family. Harry noticed Fred and George didn't bother coming in, he wondered why but was interrupted by someone clearing his or her throat. Harry turned around to face Hermione's parents who were both smiling.

"Both Hermione and Mr. Dumbledore have spoken quite highly of you Harry." Mr. Granger said fondly, Harry didn't know what to say to respond this praise. "My wife and I have wished to meet you in person for a long time now."

"That's interesting; I don't deserve that…honor." Harry said quietly.

"Why not? The way Hermione tells it, you sound like a good hero who believes in everyone's well being." Mrs. Granger intervened calmly.

"That's the way Hermione tells it, she probably hasn't mentioned that _huge _portion of luck that was involved." The foyer of the Granger residence suddenly turned rather quiet, even Crookshanks, who had just entered to see what all the commotion was, was mute.

"You're a very skilled wizard Harry; you don't need to rely on luck _at all._" Hermione said slowly, Harry turned to face her, his face dark.

"I'm not anything special Hermione; you'll see that in time." Harry looked at the ground, away from the disbelieving stares from all around, his gaze lingering on the tilled floor.

"Harry-" Harry looked up at her, completely omitting everything else unconsciously. "Harry can you hear yourself?"

"Hermione – I'm not trying to be noble or anything, but this is my fight, I will fight it the best I can but I can tell I won't come out of it victorious, but I _will _weaken him severely, you people just need to finish him off alright?" Harry moved right in front of his friend, putting each of his hands on each of her shoulders. "Let's forget about Voldemort though ok?" She nodded, her mouth open in surprise. Harry nodded, flashing a slight grin at her that told her he appreciated the response.

He let go of his shoulders, feeling something fall out of place inside of him, he ignored the feeling though, turning to her parents.

"I feel that I must apologize for all of this…" Harry said quietly to them. "So so-" but to his surprise, Hermione's short mother cut him off.

"You're going through much more than all of us can comprehend Harry." Mrs. Granger said turning him around and crouching down, putting her hands on his shoulder she looked into his eyes. "Don't ever think we're not here for you. True we've just met, but the way Hermione's eyes just glow whenever you're mentioned…"

"We were picky at first on who Hermione should call friends. We didn't want our daughter to be hurt you see." Mr. Granger walked behind Hermione and wrapping his arms around her. "Last time she tried to make a friend before she went to Hogwarts…" Mr. Granger left his speech hanging; Harry looked over Mrs. Granger's shoulder to see Hermione looking down at the floor with a gloomy look on her face.

"What happened?" Harry couldn't help but be curious; the young wizard couldn't comprehend why no one would like Hermione. Then again, he remembered her behavior back in their first year. The constant mumbling in the background that was issued by Hermione; the know-it-all, Harry couldn't help but grin slightly at his memory of the young Hermione.

"Well it star-"

"I think Hermione would do a better job in telling it Josh." Mrs. Granger interrupted, letting go of Harry finally. He opened and closed his mouth several times, then nodded.

"Yes, yes indeed you're right. Off you go then." He nudged Hermione forward and she stumbled somewhat, having relaxed in her father's grip. Harry chuckled and Hermione glared at him.

"Come on, I'll show you to your room." To Harry's mute delight, his room was in the basement, the cold air shot at him as he followed Hermione down the stairs, Harry got used to the dark atmosphere quickly, though when Hermione turned on a few lights at once, he was caught off guard. He held a hand to his eyes for a second and widened his eyes, letting them get used to the bright light. Harry heard Hermione giggle.

"Sorry about that, I usually spend most of my time down here reading during the summer. See over there?" She pointed behind him; he turned around and saw a comfortable looking chair with a tall lamp set next to it. He let his trunk fall from his grasp and he sat down in the comfortable looking chair. He relaxed for the first time in the summer, suddenly an uncomfortable feeling came from his thigh and then he remembered about the stone Ron had given him, he lazily took it out of his pocket and threw it to the ground. Letting his eyes close, he felt himself fall, quickly, asleep.

"Harry?" The voice sounded saintly in Harry Potter's ears, a sound of salvation from the darkness he was walking through at the moment. He squinted to find the owner of the voice; the echo was still ringing in his ears. He waved his arms through the darkness randomly, trying to find the beatific sounding girl.

"HARRY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING!" Harry's eyes shot open to see Hermione's staring right back into them.

"Oh sorry," Harry said, dropping his arms, he must have been flailing around because of the dream. "Just a dream gone bad,"

"It wasn't one of Voldemort's placed nightmares was it?" Hermione asked sternly.

"No, no it was something stupid." Harry said, though Hermione didn't look very convinced. "So you were going to tell me about that "friend" of yours right?"

"Oh yeah, she was… well I thought she was nice. It was before Hogwarts, as you know already, she was… sorta nice I suppose. Oh I'm repeating things over and over again!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Don't worry Hermione, just relax, here." He got off her favorite reading chair and motioned for her to sit in it. "Go ahead, I don't mind sitting on the floor."

"Whatever you say Harry," she said, flopping down on the stuffy chair, she let out a long stream of breath, Harry sat down, cross legged, on the carpeted floor. "Anyway, I think her name was April or something, it's been a while. I must have been five or six. Er – all I remember was that we got along pretty well. Then she started taking advantage of my lunch money."

"You had lunch money? Such a privilege! The most money I got from the Dursleys was ten pence, which I gave to Ron who was somewhat fascinated by it. I expect he passed it on to his father…" Hermione laughed wholeheartedly at this.

"Well yes I had lunch money, since my parents are dentists they earn quite a bit. Though they never really liked big houses, so they just got a normal sized house, since they're only the three of us," she spread her arms wide, indicating the entire house which much larger than the Dursley's.

_And a lot more pleasant, _Harry thought with a smile.

"Anyway, she started begging for some of the money everyday, being five or six; I didn't grasp that she was actually taking advantage of my money supply. I started to come home with my pockets empty and my stomach rumbling, I didn't understand how much I actually gave her everyday, but it seemed like more and more with everyday.

"Then one day I saw her giving the same money to people I thought were blithering idiots. REALLY I mean it!" She exclaimed because Harry had started laughing. "Oh come on it wasn't that funny…"

"No Hermione," he said with a wide grin. "I-it's just I've never heard you say – blithering idio-ts before." Harry grasped his chest and breathed loudly.

"What's wrong with me saying blithering idiots?" Hermione asked frowning.

"There's nothing wrong with it, other then the fact that it's a direct insult, I've just never imagined you saying that." Harry said, looking her right into her eyes.

"I can imagine you and Ron saying a lot of things." Harry's best female friend said crossing her arms. Harry chose to laugh again. "Now what's so funny!"

"It's so typical of you, the way you're acting!"

"So first you're laughing about an uncommon Hermione, and then you're laughing at a typical Hermione?" The Witch raised her eyebrows and Harry nodded. "Pathetic," she muttered and Harry Potter started to laugh again.

"Well whoever this Apple was-" Harry said wiping his watery eyes. "She's missed out on quite a lot!" Hermione snorted.  
"I guess the same can go for your cousin Dudley, he's missed out on a lot about you." Hermione said, her frown disappearing. Harry grinned again, he had, yet again, unconsciously omitted about everything except Hermione, and because of that, he _knew _this was going to be an enjoyable summer.


	5. Chapter 4: Revelation

Cry of a Restless Soul

Summary:  
Chapter Four of the First of the Legacy Chronicles. The reader is now introduced to the full meaning of the story. I won't spoil it, for that would just ruin the story entirely. I put all of my effort for about three days into this chapter. All the thought I could come up with, this chapter is the beginning of the coming plot, in my opinion. Everything is set up here, be aware of that as you continue on with this exciting tale. At least, I'd like to think it's exciting...

Chapter 4:

Revelation

The feeling of the Granger's residence was much more relaxed and slow paced than in the Dursley residence, Harry was allowed to wake up at untold hours of the day, regularly sleeping for twelve hours. He always felt refreshed for the next day and the Grangers didn't mind him devouring plates upon plates of every type of cuisine in existence. Harry also got to know more of the Granger's past, their conflict with which school Hermione should attend for example.

"The local school has always had a high reputation." Mr. Granger was saying as he helped himself to some sausages for a late breakfast. Harry, who had awoken only half-an-hour ago, couldn't have felt better. He felt energized every morning, so he regularly participated in discussions at the dinner table.

"But then we got this letter from Hogwarts, a school we had never heard of before." Mrs. Granger placed another plate full of sausages on the table; Harry started to help himself, filling a quarter of the plate with sausages. "By the way Harry, how do you like your eggs?"

"How do I like them?" The deprived child asked in confusion.

"You've never had eggs before?" Mr. Granger asked curiously and Harry shrugged.

"I have, just my Aunt never asked me how I would like them, and I usually didn't get any of the yolk while my cousin would always get a lot of it."

"Do _you _actually like them though without the yolk?" Hermione asked him, not bothering to reveal her face from behind the _Daily Prophet_.

"Not really, I never complained though, to complain meant staying in my room for the rest of the day or some punishment like that." Harry told the Grangers, looking away uncomfortably.

"So you like lot's of yolk?" Mrs. Granger asked him.

"I guess so…" Harry said uncertain. "I've always wanted to try it I suppose, I always saw my uncle dunking his toast in the yolk." At this comment the young Witch whistled slightly.

"I've always loved doing that." Hermione stated. Harry Potter sat back down.

"Ok, over easy then. I'll butter some toast for you too." The mother of Hermione said from the nearby stove.

"Anyway, the headmaster had a lot of titles." The father of Harry's best friend moved back on-topic. "So we thought the school would have a reputation in this magical community."

"Why base your decisions on reputation?" Harry asked all of a sudden. Even Hermione put the newspaper down to look at Harry. "It's just you were going to send Hermione to a school because of reputation right?" Both elderly Grangers nodded.

"What's wrong with that?" Joshua Granger asked.

"Well Hermione might not have liked it there." Harry said. "Like she just asked me, do _I_ like my eggs without any yolk? It's more important, I think where your daughter would want to go then where you want her to go."

"I guess you're right, we always tended to want the best for her while forgetting about what she wanted herself." Mrs. Granger said, noticing with a jump that the eggs were sizzling. She hastily flipped them over.

"Would you like help with that Mrs. Granger?" Harry asked getting out of his seat.

"Oh no thank you Harry, you're the guest, keep eating." Mia Granger told him without looking at him but concentrating on the cooking eggs.

"Still used to working?" Hermione asked him, out of the corner of her mouth, behind the newspaper. Harry felt himself shrug.

"It's what kept me busy at the Dursleys, after they started to ignore my existence ENTIRELY, I just got really bored." Harry then looked at his full plate and started to eat again. Soon enough he had finished all the eggs, sausages, and the many pieces of toast he could consume in one day.

"We're going to Diagon Alley today; apparently the Weasleys are coming too." Hermione stated randomly.

"Oh, so soon?"

"Soon Harry? It's been two and a half weeks now!" Harry, who shrugged, smiled slightly.

"Times gone by so fast now," the Boy-who-lived muttered to himself.

Soon Harry found himself in Diagon Alley; the four of them had managed to cut through underground, though when they came up into the sunlight, Harry felt his arm come up automatically to block the sudden burst of brightness.

"Seems weird, my eyes have been acting up randomly." Harry said to himself more than anyone else.

"Acting up in what way Harry?" Mr. Granger, the eavesdropper asked.

"They seem to be rather sensitive to the light now." He answered rubbing them with his pointer finger while trying to avoid his glasses.

"You're just used to the darkness in the basement." The father of Hermione replied. "Now where we were supposed to meet up?"

"Ron said something about Gringotts." Hermione muttered softly, Harry glanced at her and saw a frown.

"I don't rememb-" The Potter started.

"Of course you wouldn't it was in a letter." Hermione interrupted out of the corner of her mouth. Harry couldn't think of any response besides an "oh." His eyes quickly fell to the ground.

Ron and Hermione were in contact and she didn't tell him? Harry felt his eyebrows frown; again he was being left in the dark! Again mutters were always lurking behind him. The Boy-who-lived suddenly felt rather angry with both of his friends, they had constant bitter arguments and yet they were still sending joyful letters to each other?

Harry raised his head and felt his frown disappear when he saw the Weasley family approach. He saw eight members in total. Discussing quietly were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, while Ron was complaining to a dismissive Fred, and George was teasing Ginny with something Harry could not see from this far.

Ginny, Harry didn't have to squint to see her flaming red hair glint in the sunlight, though when she turned and saw him. Her smile widened and Harry felt his as well, he raised a hand tentatively and felt something in side of him skip slightly when she raised one of her own.

"Harry?" The boy in question looked to see Hermione's chocolate brown eyes, Harry could see, quite clearly, that curiosity filled them.

"Yeah I'm coming." Harry told him, and walking toward Ginny Weasley, he didn't look back at Hermione.

"Harry's here!" Ginny's angelic voice yelled out to the rest of her family and all of the others suddenly became quite alert, all rushing toward the Grangers and Harry. Ginny was first to Harry though, she leaped into Harry's grasp, hugging him tightly.

Harry couldn't help feeling blissful in her grasp, but when he opened his eyes to see Ron and Hermione mimicking him and Ginny, he couldn't help but feel a cool metal hammer smashing his heart in two.

So they were keeping him in the dark, Harry pushed the irrelevant... Harry couldn't remember her name… away from him, anger rising in him; he rushed forward and saw Harry's blissful expression mirrored in Ron's, though it disappeared quite quickly when he saw him approach.

"You've been keeping me in the dark then have you?" Harry said coldly, unlocking his two friends.

"Well H-" Ron started, his ears went red rather quickly though, exactly when Harry cut him off.

"I've been sleeping ALL day in Hermione's basement, but NEITHER of you could bother telling me what's going on eh?"

"Hey! You shouldn't be talking!" Hermione screeched back at him.

"And why is that?" Harry replied he felt his face change expression rather quickly; it seemed to surprise his two friends rather drastically, since both were backing away somewhat speedily.

"Ha-Harry," the Witch stuttered.

"What? SPEAK!" Harry felt a smirk coming onto his face. He then felt something rise inside of him, slowly draining him of what little strength he possessed.

_Damnit… damn V-Voldemort… _Harry felt himself say in his mind, then his world went black, he felt himself drift off, his spirit becoming exhausted and replaced by another, more powerful one.

"I thought you would be clever enough to realize I would take over this idiot's body Mudblood." The voice no longer belonged to Harry, it seemed to hiss, though Harry's distinct voice remained in it, the new voice seemed to be a mix between Harry Potter's and…

"Voldemort," Hermione shoved Ron out of the way, anger curling out from inside of her.

"Ah, the Mudblood shows she has raised her intelligence from zero to one." Voldemort, now in Harry's body, taunted.

"Why do this Voldemort? You have nothing to gain by taking over Harry's body and now we know you're lurking inside of him." A chuckle came from the possessed body, a chuckle that made many shiver quite violently. The whole alley was silent, watching with chalk white expressions, the scene before them.

"I have everything to gain Mudblood. You see I, unlike you, have thought about the future. And what I see makes me curl up smiling; it seems this is just a shortcut to the glory of that dream. Now young Mr. Potter will be blamed for the killing of you and every person in Diagon Alley and sent off to Azkaban by that idiot Fudge and I will be free to prove to that imbecile Dumbledore how powerful I _am_."

"You see, it is this young boy that has kept everything from me. I've been keeping your young friend here." He indicated Ron. "Under the _Imperius_ Curse for a while now, ever since your little trio saw your other friend Draco Malfoy on the train home, well he didn't last long then because of your excellent peers. So the curse was broken there."

"Your so-called lover was then confused exceptionally." Voldemort continued. "He had blank periods in his memory no doubt, wondering what he had been doing at sometime or another, then he met up with another one of my agents accidentally. The agent placed him under the curse again, to my extreme delight.

"Then came you Mudblood, you were connected quite well with this boy." He indicted himself, though it was Harry who he was indicating. "AND I learned from my agent that Harry was to be delivered to your residence. How thrilled I was to hear this pleasant news, I could make Harry think about you in his entire stay. Harry became blissful, ignoring the growing presence in his body, until now; when his anger at your lover, who under the _Imperius_ curse has sent you declarations of love, became overwhelming. I feed on anger Mudblood, I became his copy. Harry is asleep right now, wondering what is happening to him, crying out for the youngest Weasley girl."Voldemort then turned sharply to face Ginny.

"Yes, you finally have a use girl; come…" he hissed the only part of Ginny that moved was a finger, a rather rude gesture too, though Mrs. Weasley didn't complain about it. "COME!" With a wave of his hand Ginny was swept off the ground and flew, with a scream, to Voldemort, whose smirk was wide.

"L-let go of me you filthy piece of vermin!" Ginny cried out and Voldemort laughed. The laugh echoed eerily around the silent courtyard making everyone shiver even more violently.

"_STUPEFY_!" The spell came from Mr. Weasley's wand. Voldemort turned sharply and quickly, he tossed Ginny, letting the young girl absorb her father's spell. The stunned body of Ginny Weasley fell noiselessly onto the rocky ground of Diagon Alley. The Dark Lord then flicked his right hand, bringing out Harry's wand.

"Ingenious how Harry is; keeping his wand in a position with quick access." He smirked pointing the wand at Arthur Weasley. "None stand in the way of Lord Voldemort." Screeches erupted from every corner of the courtyard and Voldemort let out a booming laugh.

"I love the smell of fear; love is something I usually cannot feel, as your beloved Dumbledore knows. Now die pathetic Mudblood lover _Avada Kedavra_!" A flash of green light shot from Harry's wand, Arthur leaped to the side, taking his wife along with him. "WEAKLINGS _AVADA KEDAVRA_!" The spell was not aimed at any of the Weasleys, but at Mrs. Granger.

Hermione let out a tongue-tied cry, Mrs. Granger, luckily, had enough sense to dodge it though. She grabbed her husband's arm tightly and tried to pull him away. It seemed he was muttering protests.

"No you imbecile, stupid Harry Potter will _not _be coming back." Voldemort spat out, Mr. Granger frowned, to him, and everyone else present, it seemed Voldemort had _very_ heightened senses.

"Harry's not weak." Harry turned to see the young Witch, Hermione Granger right in front of him. Her eyes flashed widely and Voldemort cringed. "And he's definitely not stupid."

"This I did not expect, this changes events. I shall have to deal with you Mudblood, I was hoping to savor your slow and painful death but it seems that you are indeed a threat." Voldemort raised Harry's wand.

"HERMIONE!" Mrs. Granger screeched.

"He won't do it mum. He can't kill me." Hermione said firmly, her wand in her wand but not aimed at Harry. Voldemort's laugh echoed loudly around the courtyard, now making people faint, making walls crumble, and making various animals scurry or fly away.

"Absolutely pathetic!" Voldemort paused to flash a wide smirk at her. "Watch me Mudblood." He raised the wand; Hermione's eyes were planted right on Harry's no-longer emerald eyes.

"_STUPEFY_!" Several cries came out at once, all of the Weasley's, minus Ginny and Ron, had their wands out and shot the stunning spell right at Harry. All of them rebounded off of him and left him laughing openly again, making all present cringe and grab their ears.

"The hatred inside of Harry Potter has made me immune to certain… weaklings." Voldemort smirked again, whipping his wand in a complex formation no one could follow and a lash like sound echoed around, darkness erupted out of the end of his wand. Shooting in several directions, hitting all of the conscious Weasley's in the belly. Ron and Ginny both seemed motionless, Ginny stunned and Ron standing as unblinking as a statue. The Weasleys all fell to the ground, fear itched on their faces.

"Pathetic," Voldemort spat simply. Turning back to Hermione he raised his wand. "Enough delay already, why am I so hesitant in killing this stupid little girl." He spat at the ground, lowering his wand.

"Because Harry doesn't want to kill me," Hermione said simply. "You didn't kill the Weasleys and you cannot kill me, you knew you'd miss my mum and Mr. Weasley. You just created fear, that's it. I am above fear Voldemort." Hermione frowned.

"You? Above fear! Don't make me laugh again Mudblood." Voldemort smirked, Harry's white teeth showing, his wide eyes turned from fiery red to blood red cat-like slits. "Very well then, _CRUCIO_!" The spell hit Hermione, making her crumble on the ground screaming, the all to familiar pains swept through every muscle and every bone in her body, stabbing and piercing at her.

"HERMIONE!" The spell was cut off, and Harry, in his real form, came crashing down, lifting her up very gently, and tears dripping down his eyes. "I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry. You could have died… and it would have been my fault…"

"Harry…" Hermione then fell back down to the ground eyes closed.

"No… no… Hermione… damnit!" Harry screamed, tearing at his hair, throwing his wand across the alley. Screaming loudly, he fell on his knees, and then plumped down, his hands cradling his face. "DAMN YOU VOLDEMORT!"

"I don't care…" Harry mumbled to the nearby female Healer who was urging him to get some sleep.

"You haven't slept in two days Mr. Potter!" She replied frantically. "That's unhealthy Mr. Potter."

"Like being possessed by Lord Voldemort isn't." Harry spat back at her, he looked up at her, placing a dark glare in his eyes. The Healer had shuddered because of the name but continued firmly.

"You must sleep Mr. Potter! Your friend would have wanted it that way." Harry rose from his plain seat, the chair scraping the ground, and the Healer cowering below him.

"So Hermione Granger is "_my friend_" now and I'm _Mr. Potter _eh? I get to have a name but she doesn't! She is the brightest person I have ever had the fortune of meeting and you don't even bother acknowledging her existence! EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE TREATING HER! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Harry yelled at her, the Healer went away, tears flooding from her eyes.

After the event that occurred in the Courtyard of Diagon Alley before the legendary bank, Gringotts, the remaining members of the Granger family and the Weasley members rushed to the local Wizarding hospital. Harry had stayed in his designated room for around two hours, before awakening and rushing out of his room to find Hermione.

"She's alive." Harry muttered to himself, felt a long whistle of breath rush out from inside of him. That thought was the only thought that kept him going, Mr. and Mrs. Granger were now with Hermione while the Weasleys were with Ron; who was being treated for the _Imperius_ curse, he had told Harry earlier this day that he planned on taking lessons with Moody, who had just visited Ron.

Though was it today that Ronald Weasley had told him that? Time seemed to have frozen in Harry's mind; neither of his friends was near him. Making him feel more isolated then ever. Footsteps alerted the young wizard and he stood up, wand drawn. Aran Schmitz chuckled as he walked calmly toward Harry.

"I see you are as alert as ever Potter; keep up the good work." He plumped down in the unoccupied chair across from Harry. "I am sorry to hear of your companion's injuries, I was uninformed."

"You couldn't have done anything anyway." Harry told him truthfully, sitting down again, across from the adult. "You were still at the Granger's house right?" He shook his head.

"Dumbledore used me for an errand to the Ministry of Magic; enlightening them that, yet again, he did not want to… fulfill the post of Minister of Magic." Aran explained.

"Oh, why didn't he just send an owl to them?" Harry asked, leaning back in his seat, Aran replied with a shrug.

"If you ask questions that makes you unsure, feeling unsure is a liability." Aran explained sternly, though Harry could not define the term _"liability" _he figured out the meaning from the short dialogue.

Silence fell between the two wizards quickly. It seemed Aran did not want to relax even though he seemed fairly tired, he kept shifting as if trying to keep himself awake. Harry felt his eyes loom around the waiting room; he did not feel like soaking up the image of his surroundings until now, when looking at the table in front of him, he noticed a familiar face. The face of Ludo Bagman, ex-beater to the Quidditch team: _Wimbourne Wasps_. Curiosity drove his hand to grab the article. Harry took little notice of the charming white smile and wave Bagman was giving him in the picture next to the article. His eyes glazed over to the words.

_Ludo Bagman: All depts. cleared!_

_For some unnamed reason, Ludo Bagman (winner of three World Quidditch cups, and prized with the Golden Bully in 1988) has paid off ALL of his depts. Three years ago, Bagman had been at the peak of all of his depts., claims a Ministry member who shall remain unnamed because of personal reasons._

_"He ran for it after the Triwizard Tournament, the Ministry has been on the lookout for him for the past year. But then he just turned up out of nowhere, shabby robes yes, but loads of gold in his pockets."_

_How Bagman has acquired this surprising high amount of gold is questionable for no one has employed him nor seen him for the past year. Though the Goblins, who he had placed a bet with at the Tournament for Harry Potter to win the legendary tournament. The Goblins though said he, Bagman, lost since Mr. Potter tied with the now deceased Mr. Cedric Diggory, are happy to say they are not concerned with any reason._

_"We've got the money," snarled a petite yellowish greenish Goblin. "Who cares where he got it from!" The _Daily Prophet _advises the Public to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity performed by Mr. Bagman to help the Ministry track down reasons for the acquiring of this large sum of gold._

_Related story: Diggory's body now worth Bagman's gold? T16_

Harry tossed the paper back, lightly, onto the table; he was not surprised that he had forgotten about Ludo Bagman for an entire year since all Bagman did was put him on the edge.

"Interesting isn't it?" Aran spoke up abruptly, Harry looked up to meet his dark eyes. "Bagman's been accused for Dark activity so they're telling people to be alert. Have you ever met him?"  
"Unfortunately," Harry grunted and, for the first time, Aran smiled slightly.

"I don't blame you in the least for that attitude; he used you and Diggory to get some money for himself. Greed powers us humans Potter, get away from it while you can." Harry nodded, accepting the logical advice.

"Isn't it very human to feel greedy?" The black haired wizard's head whipped up and felt a weight that was inside of him fall off quickly. Hermione Granger stood, looking healthy, with her father's hand on her shoulder.

"Yes it is, but that doesn't stop you from getting away from it." Aran replied. "For now, I am glad you have made a full recovery." Aran stood up, his back firm, he bowed low, seeing his spine curl slowly; Harry looked back at Hermione and threw a wide smile at her.

"You're ok." Harry stated simply and Hermione nodded. "Yet again I thought I caused your… what's the word?"

"Death?" She answered and the only Potter alive felt his head nod as well.

"I should have learned Occulemency properly…"

"They're a lot of things you should have done Harry, but right now don't worry about them." She looked at him; her brown eyes mirrored that of Professor McGonagall's.

"Ok fine, I won't worry about Occulemency alright! So Voldemort can come right into my head and go rip your guts right out of your mouth alright!" Harry countered her, his voice rising with each new word, though Mr. Granger's hand gripped her shoulder harder, her face still seemed as firm as ever.

"You didn't mean that." She told him, Harry knew this was true but he chose to omit the comment.

"I _have _to worry Hermione," he said, his voice calming down and Mr. Granger's hand slackening, with every word. "Voldemort will hurt me through the killing of all of you, he wants me to endure as much pain as possible and you're all the weapons he needs."

"He'll have trouble killing us though!" Harry looked up to the newcomer; his other friend Ron Weasley.

"You're better then." Harry stated simply, his body falling back into a resting stance.

"Yeah mate'. Listen Hermione and I-"

"Oh talking behind my back again were you?" Harry spat, his dark eyes locking with Ron's fearful ones.

"H-hey mat-"

"Harry," Hermione stepped forward, her stance firm and her father stepping back with a grin. "Don't start again please."

"May I ask why not?" Harry matched her stance, unconsciously ignoring every other presence in the waiting room.

"You don't understand? Voldemort _wants _you to get angry! That's why he took over Ron to send me those stupid love letters! He knows me more then I would like Harry, I was easily tempted by this, I always had this soft spot with Ron…"

"V-Voldemort wants me to be angry?" Harry replied blankly and Hermione groaned loudly.

"Your _idiocy _surprises me sometimes Harry!" Harry frowned and opened his mouth, but Hermione quickly added. "Not as much as Ron's though."

"He-hey!" He said, laughing in between along with everyone in the waiting room who was paying any attention.

"Haven't you realized by now," Hermione continued. "That ever since you returned from Hogwarts, that whenever you get angry, your features change?"

"Well my eyes did change, but not to identical to Voldemort's blood red eyes." The wizard mumbled frowning slightly now.

"When you became _really _anger with Ron and me, your voice changed, and soon enough your face changed, paler, blood red eyes…" Hermione shivered slightly.

"I-I'm sorry," Harry replied lamely, his eyes falling to the ground.

"Don't be." The Witch replied sternly yet again. Harry felt his eyes coming back up to meet hers. "You're not at fault, but we'll have _no _blaming here; that just wastes time, now dad?" She turned to face her father who jumped slightly.

"Uh? Oh yes dear?" Her father replied quickly.

"Where's mum?"

"I'll get her, I was expecting her to come here soon enough though…" he turned around, moving towards the room Hermione had occupied a moment ago.

"Harry?" The boy in question turned around sharply to see the entire Weasley family facing him (minus Ron who was behind him talking quietly with Hermione.) Something inside of Harry gave a sharp turn; Ginny was looking up at him with shinning eyes. "How're you feeling dear?" Mrs. Weasley moved quickly to Harry, wrapping her arms around him much like at the end of his fourth year. Harry gratefully returned the hug, pleased to feel the love seeping from this minor gesture.

"I've been better, and _much _worse." Harry replied, smiling slightly at her, she laughed slightly, a small audible sound coming out of her mouth sounding quite distorted.

"Of course you have dear; apparently you haven't been getting much rest, that's not good for you now. We've been finishing the shopping while you were here." She said in an "off-hand" manner.

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley." Harry said giving her another smile.

"Oh no need to, I should be thanking you." Harry frowned slightly, confused. "Oh you see we didn't realize Ron was under the curse, now You-Know-Who probably knows a little too much." She sighed faintly, her eyes losing their color. "We should have seen it coming; Ron is far too weak for comfort."

"Ron's not weak Mrs. Weasley," Harry said sternly, trying to get his point across, it seemed for a second it did. Mrs. Weasley's eyes glowed quite brightly, as if teary but he knew she was beyond tears now. "Ron's one of the many reasons I'm standing here talking to you here and now. Now, I'm betting the rest of your family is eager to… speak their mind."

"Oh Harry, you sound so mature." This time tears did appear in her eyes, she wrapped her short arms around Harry again, holding him quite tightly. Then, a moment later, that feeling of love was replaced by something else. Ginny had grabbed Harry tightly, holding him close as if afraid he would disappear.

"I-I wa-s s-so scared." She whimpered, not bothering to hide her tears. Harry felt rather uncomfortable with Ginny; he returned the hug nonetheless, smoothing her long red hair.

"That's ok; it's human to be scared." Harry said soothingly, he moved the connection just slightly, just so that he could peer at Hermione. He frowned when he saw her in embrace with Ron, tears coming from her eyes as well. Harry turned away; focusing on Ginny's flat, boring, hair.

She let go then, Harry almost felt like letting out a long breath of air at the freedom but resisted. He flashed a slight grin at Ginny who beamed in return, wiping her eyes she walked away, turning every now and then to gaze at Harry. Harry wondered slightly why his body was so moved by Ginny's mere presence now. In his mind's eye, he shrugged, and continued to greet the rest of the Weasleys.

"Want one of our cloaks Harry?" Fred and, his twin, George Weasley came up next, indicating a long black cloak that seemed to sparkle slightly.

"It's not going to sprout fangs suddenly is it?" The last Potter asked them cautiously; knowing full well that was something Fred and George would pull off fairly easily AND earn profit from it. George laughed at this comment.

"You know us too well Harry." He said. "Nah you git, it protects you from outside penetration. In ANY way possible."

"Really? Why would it protect the mind then if it's a cloak? It doesn't even touch the head." Harry said, signifying the cloak with a wave of his right hand.

"Ever heard of a hood git?" Fred said with a side long smile, Harry's "oh" response made him laugh openly. "Hermione's right you know, you _are _quite dense sometimes."

"Most of the time…" George continued, smirking at his twin.

"All the time," Fred winked at him. "Free of charge Harry." George threw the cloak at him. Harry, with his superior seeker attributes, caught it fairly easily.

"Free of charge?" The Boy-who-lived questioned.

"You're the one who created that cloak Harry!" Fred gesticulated wildly.

"No I didn't you guys di-"

"Wow, I thought Fred and I were joking, you **_are _**thickheaded." George said, his mouth wide opened.

"Yeah, Hermione _does _know you then." Fred turned to his twin and nodded.

"What?" Harry replied dumbly.

"Just take the cloak git." George turned around, waving his arm in abandoned frustration.

"Remember the gold you gave us?" Harry nodded slightly. "That gold went to that, my friend. Take care of yourself now." Fred waved and turned around without waiting for a reply. A second later Mr. Weasley approached him even before Harry could soak in what Fred and George just told him.

"I just want to tell you Harry." Mr. Weasley said quickly, his blue eyes not blinking but the emerald eyes facing his blinked rather rapidly. "That _no one _blames you for what you have done. You have been possessed by You-know-who and all of us accept that and we'll assist you in anyway we can. I just want to tell you that my wife and I want to be the parents you never had. I know you had Sirius for that, but now that he's…" Mr. Weasley stopped for a moment, running a hand through his short hair.

"I've dealt with the loss Mr. Weasley." Harry replied sternly, omitting the lingering confusion in him. "There's absolutely no point in killing myself through blaming myself."

"I agree with Molly, you _have _become quite mature since the first time I met you in you're… when was it? Your second year?" Harry nodded slightly. "Yes, yes well do you accept?"

"Accept?" Harry replied, his head tilting to his right shoulder slightly.

"Yes accept, young Harry Potter, do you wish to call me father and my wife mother?" Arthur asked honestly, Harry though was taken aback by this. He always thought of the Weasleys as close to a family as he could get but would he actually call them a family.

"Would you permit me to think about this?" Harry asked him, his green eyes shinning slightly.

"Of course Harry, it is a hard decision. It's not that important anyway." He added. "Since you'll be of age soon enough." Mr. Weasley started to walk away, but Harry grabbed his shoulder before he could get out of reach. He turned a hopeful look in his eyes.

"No M- dad." Harry smiled, Mr. Weasley mimicking him. "I would love to be adopted by you."

"It's unofficial of course." He said turning back to Harry, his smile now wide. The delight inside of Harry could not be expressed through words or feelings, happiness erupted from his heart and every part of his body.

He pranced back to Ron and Hermione, muttering quietly but both looked up at his entrance.

"What're you so perky for?" Ron asked abruptly. Harry saw the obvious step from Hermione and saw her foot step on Ron's right. "Ow- what was that-" Harry laughed loudly, tears pouring openly from his eyes and his entire body shook with the laughter he had never felt before.

"H-Harry?" Ron moved toward him cautiously. "You're starting to sound like Loony Lovegood." Harry barely heard him, he laughed for another moment before breathing heavily.

"I-I don't know… I'm just so happy." Harry panted.

"About what?" Hermione moved toward him, not taking Ron's offered hand.

"I'm unofficially your brother Ron." He said, smiling widely at his first sibling who looked quite confused for a moment then smiled widely.

"HA! THAT _IS _FUNNY!" Ron started laughing loudly too. "So dad actually convinced you?"

"It didn't take much." Harry said truthfully and his friend laughed again.

"That's good and all Harry." Hermione said, making Harry turn around. "But what about-" she nodded her head toward Ginny.

"What about her?" The Boy-who-lived asked, confounded.

"Don't you and her – you know…" Ron started lamely, catching onto Hermione' motives.

"What? Do you think I fancy her?" Both Hermione and Ron nodded. Harry thought for a moment, did he fancy Ron's only sister? Did he honestly want to spend untold hours with the young, and quite beautiful, girl in every place imaginable? What would they talk about? The only things Harry and Ginny shared were negative things, she resembled his mother true, but did that bring good memories? No it did not bring any memories what so ever, he didn't even know if she looked like Lily Potter. Harry had seen Lily once in his life, and though she had died soon after that event, she would change a bit right?

Harry shook his head, to both Ron and Hermione's surprise.

"Really? You don't like her?" His non-official brother asked amazed.

"What is there to like - her beauty?" Harry snorted which made both his friends jump. "More like lack there of," Harry added nastily.

"You – you don't like Ginny?" Hermione asked and the Boy-who-lived was surprised at her astonished tone.

"How is this so surprising!" Harry yelled out. "It was just like Cho right? I fancied her because she was pretty. That's about it, I didn't know much about her, I didn't even notice what eye color she had." Harry added.

"Well, it's just the way you two shined whenever you saw each other…" Ron muttered. "I thought it was love at first site you know?" Harry couldn't help but pass another snort at them.

"That's just my mind playing tricks on me, I'm not going to devote myself to someone I _know _I'm not going to be happy with. My body responded to her beauty that's it." Harry said his happy mood now drained totally.

"You three ready?" Mrs. Weasley appeared to have emerged out of thin air. "Oh yeah, Arthur told me we unofficially adopted you Harry. I'm _very _pleased." Harry flashed a wide grin to her.

"Yeah we're ready mum." Ron mumbled, Harry's grin disappeared and was now replaced by a face of pure guilt.

"Don't worry," Hermione told him, trying to comfort him now that Ron and Mrs. Weasley were out of earshot. "Don't feel like you're taking the attention away from him."

"I can't help it Hermione." Harry said sadly. "I've done it my whole life."


	6. Chapter 5: Lost in the Depths of Thought

Cry of a Restless Soul

Summary:  
Another developing chapter, the reader now gets to see Hogwarts up close. Though when Harry learns that he is Quidditch captain, irriation soon leads to anger. When anger comes... yeah... the antagonist of this tale makes another appearence, and Harry's mind is now wide open. We now see an example of "dramatic irony" which is when the auidence, or reader in this case, knows something that the characters do not. The reader gets a glance at the plot of Lord Voldemort, but is all told?

Chapter 5:

Lost in the Depths of Thought

The rest of the summer passed without much incident, the Boy-who-lived kept his temper under control, educated discussions continued around the household, and Harry slept longer and longer with each new day.

"School's starting tomorrow you know." Hermione told him as he was stretching his arms while walking into the kitchen. "You _should_ have been getting back into the habit of waking up earlier then…"

"Noon," Harry finished, sitting down beside her. "I know I should but I can't really resist. Sleep's always been… hard to get for me. Now that I don't have those nightmares anymore…"

"You can sleep as much as you want." The youngest Granger looked up at the youngest Potter with a wide smile. Harry replied with a slight nod.

Sooner then he would have liked, he was facing the barrier of Platform nine and three-quarters. He waved, one last time, to Hermione's parents and then walked through the barrier, appearing was the train that always lifted Harry's spirits. At that moment; Harry's skipped a beat for he realized that this would be the second last time he would be boarding the legendary train.

"This'll be one of the last times we'll see this train you know." Harry crooked his head to see his friend Hermione looking up at the train with a blissful expression.

"You're really good at reading minds aren't you?" Harry stated moving toward the train with Hermione in tow. "You'll have to go to the prefect's cabin right?"

"Oh – yeah… yeah I do." She said guiltily as they boarded the train.

"Hey, 'bout time," the familiar voice of Ronald Weasley floated into Harry's ears, his gaze traveled from Hermione's guilty expression to the joyful visage of his male friend.

"We're actually not late or early." Hermione said from behind Harry.

"Says you, the meeting's already started come on." Ron beckoned for Hermione to follow him. "See you later Harry!"

"Yeah… sure," he barely heard Hermione's "goodbye" but continued on past his two friends to find an empty compartment. He found one near the middle of the train; he stepped inside and placed his trunk sluggishly onto the shelf above the seats. Seating himself next to the window, he passed the time by counting the many bricks on the side wall, from this side of the train he could not see the platform.

"Hey Harry." Harry tore his gaze from the bricks to see Luna Lovegood staring at him with wide eyes, Harry had to shake his head for a second before seeing her clearly enough. He made a mental note not to count bricks again.

"Hey, come on in." He gestured for her to sit down. "How was your summer?"

"Not as good as most." She said, sitting down across from him and placing her bag next to her. "I found something rather interesting though…"

"Hmm?" Harry said mildly.

"I love your interest, I found this." She reached into her bag and pulled out a necklace, Harry didn't have to squint to see the glint around the silver necklace.

"What is it?" Harry asked with interest, keeping his eyes on the necklace, how did it manage to sway so smoothly like that.

"It's an amulet, I think it's also imbued with something relating to Veela." Harry shook his head to clear away the wanting feeling that amulet was giving him.

"Wait, Veela?" Harry said dumbly and she nodded. "I suppose that would make sense, put it away please." She followed his order, and stuffed it back into her bag. Harry felt something lift from his body and he breathed easier now.

"I thought your friend might have liked it." Harry looked back up to the dirty-blond haired girl. "Ginny told me about his little… Veela liking."

"Ron likes Veela? Oh, you're talking about the Quidditch World Cup?" She nodded. "I was drawn to them as well," Harry said off hand.

"What about your summer?" She asked with full attention.

"Relaxing, I got away from the Dursleys as soon as my birthday came around." Harry said, moving his gaze back to the window.

"How'd you do on your O.W.Ls?" She asked, trying to keep a pleasant conversation going.

"I averaged an "E"." Though Harry had completely forgotten the Ordinary Wizarding Level exams entirely, he remembered his mark since it was, in his opinion, above where he thought he stood on the marking scale.

"That's alright isn't it?" Harry shrugged, but despite that she continued to convey her worries of the upcoming examinations to him, he partly listened to her ranting but kept his gaze on the door; waiting for his two friends to come back. He saw someone poke his head in front of the window; Harry squinted to see Neville Longbottom opening the slide door.

"Hey Harry, hey Luna." He said nervously.

"Neville," Harry nodded to him.

"Hi nobody," Harry couldn't help but laugh at this, Neville's cheeks turned red for a bit when she said this, apparently Luna's memory was pretty sharp.

"Sit down Neville." Harry said, gesticulating towards the empty seats.

"Thanks, I got something for my birthday!" He exclaimed abruptly, Harry frowned at this.

"You usually don't get anything?" Luna spoke Harry's thoughts before he could.

"Well Gran doesn't usually feel I deserve anything because of my… you know…" Harry nodded understandably. "Well I got pretty good on my O.W.L's for one, and I told her about what happened at the end of the year last year."

"The Department of Mysterious fiasco?" Harry turned to see a fellow DA member, Hannah Abbot leaning on the side of the door.

"I didn't know it had a name…" Neville said tentatively.

"Guess you don't read the _Daily Prophet _eh?" She said, her eyes moving from him to Harry's. "I was just wondering if you were going to start up DA again?"

"Yeah, will you?" Neville said a look of ultimate wanting on his face.

"Er-" in truth Harry hadn't given DA much thought, new events had arisen that seemed to omit DA entirely, he looked at the carpeted floor and noticed the train had started to move.

He thought about all of the exciting DA meetings, the wide smiles everyone wore and that talisman feeling Harry had every time he entered Umbridge's class. He looked up at the three eager expressions and nodded.

"Yeah sure, why not? Since Voldemort's back we mind as well get as prepared as possible." Harry was surprised when only Neville and Hannah cringed at the name, he saw Luna still looking as lost as ever.

"Thanks Harry! I'll go tell everyone else! Or maybe if you still have your coin…"

"Yeah sure, I'll schedule the first meeting for as soon as possible." She beamed at him then left hurriedly, Harry looked away from the, now closing door, and chose to look at Luna.

"Something you need?" She asked, feeling his stare.

"You didn't tremble when I said Voldemort." He and Luna ignored Neville's quiver.

"What's the point of that? He's just trying to create fear in us, yet there are other things we have to fear instead…"

"For instance…?" Harry questioned.

"Blast-Ended-Screwts!" She exclaimed and Harry cringed slightly. Neville seemed to be plotting whether or not to leave.

"Finally, something that exists," Harry's gaze snapped up to the doorway and saw Hermione's familiar figure standing, her right arm on her hip and the neighbor, in a relaxing stance.

"Hermione!" Neville and Luna exclaimed simultaneously.

"Look, some people actually know your name." Harry strained his neck to see his red haired friend behind Hermione. "We're allowed in right?"

"Ya sure, come in." Harry said, gesturing them in, thankful to have some people he can carry a conversation with.

"Thanks," Hermione said seating herself beside him and running a hand through her hair.

"I got a birthday present!" Neville exclaimed again and Harry looked away, a slight grin on his face. He couldn't help thinking exactly like Neville; he himself had never celebrated his birthday until the age of eleven.

"What'd you get Neville?" Hermione asked, feigning interest quite well.

"Er – well… this." He dove into his bag, pulling out a large book which immediately made Hermione's eyes glow. Harry laughed as he watched Hermione carefully, the bright glow in the chocolate brown eyes. "It's a book on different wandless spells."

"Wandless spells? I've never heard of that before." Ron said sitting down in between Neville and Luna.

"I've actually been looking for this book." Hermione muttered to herself but Harry couldn't help hearing it. "Neville, do you mind if I look at that for a moment?" Neville handed her the book and started to talk with Luna and Ron.

Harry felt his interest fall away from the people across from him, his gaze lingered on Hermione's face for a lengthy time, absorbing every expression that came onto her face.

"Oh yeah," she said looking right up at him. "Ginny told me just before I came here that you're going to start up DA again."

"Yeah… yeah I am." Harry replied looking away.

"What's wrong? I think it was a great idea!" She exclaimed.

"Maybe, it's just I – I'm worried that I'm going to run out of stuff to teach…" Harry said lamely, looking back at her.

"Wha-at? Run out of stuff to teach! Harry you _are _dense, you know there's a library absolutely _full _of spell books right? You can learn spells like that." She snapped her right pointer and middle fingers together and Harry saw her smile widen again. "You can learn em', say if they're useful and then teach it to us."

"You should be teaching Hermione." Harry stated, looking at Luna who was showing the Veela amulet to Ron, Harry didn't seem to drawn to it now but Ron seemed keen on rubbing his face against it.

"I'm no teacher, you are Harry. You know what we need to know and what we don't need to know. That's better then me, I would just teach everything; the theory, the history, the movement, whatever. You just get to the point." Hermione stated.

"I do?" Harry replied confounded. "I never really noticed, I just… I just well – said what I thought about the spell and just…"

"Said it?" Hermione raised her eyebrows, the right side of her mouth curling slightly.

"Yeah – Yeah I guess." He replied, looking away from his friend.

"Hey, get away from me!" The cry came from outside of their compartment, Harry, alert as ever, pulled out his wand and stood up. The compartment went eerily silent until a scream erupted from right outside. Harry dashed out, fearing for the worst. A young girl, most likely a first or second year, was running right toward him. Harry dodged back into his compartment, letting the girl run past unharmed. Stepping back into the hallway, his eyes met those of Draco Malfoy.

"Potter you…"

"Save the insults Malfoy, what're you doing here? Shouldn't you be hanging around with your Death Eaters, hurting innocent Muggles?" Harry taunted, a sidelong smile appearing on his visage. "I would have thought Hogwarts – no _any _form of education would be above such a fabulous Wizard like yourself. I mean joining the Death Eater clan is rather difficult is it not? Showing your arm to Voldemort, oh how difficult. Would you permit me to see your arm actually; I was actually thinking of joining them, especially after my good friend Bellatrix came and asked me herself." Harry enjoyed watching the transactions between the different expressions on his rival's face.

"You die here Potter! No Dumbledore's here to save you!" Malfoy lifted his wand. Harry, still smiling, was caught slightly off guard and was prepared to leap back into his compartment, but was saved by several spells that shot Malfoy in all directions.

"Yeah Dumbledore isn't." Harry whipped his head around to see Hermione looking rather disgusted at Malfoy's unconscious form. "But we are." Harry didn't have time to send a grateful smile her way, for other cries of agreement erupted all around the halls.

"I concur!" Harry heard Ernie **Macmillan say from a few doors down to the right. "I was the one who used Jelly-legs!"  
"My Impedimenta was for Ginny!" Dean Thomas, a fellow dorm-mate of Harry's, cried out.**

**"Shut up Dean." The Boy-who-lived heard, with a laugh, Ginny say next to him. "My bat-bogey was _way _better."**

**"I thought my Blasting charm was pretty good too…" Parvati Patil said from the compartment across from Harry.**

**"Harry didn't teach that did he? You probably got it from Hermione." Her twin sister said from behind her. Harry saw, from the corner of his eye, Hermione's cheek turn red.**

**"Thanks all of you!" Harry yelled out, smiling widely at the cheers replying it.**

**"We should be thanking you Harry!" An encouraging Terry Boot screamed over the loud shouts.**

**"YEAH HARRY, LONG LIVE DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY!" Both Creevey's screeched simultaneously.**

**"Quiet!" Harry yelled, suddenly the entire hallway went silent. "Sorry about that, I just need to tell all of you thanks." Cheers erupted again and Harry waited until they dimmed away. "I don't know if the word's gone around already, but DA's going to be starting up again, so make sure you still have those coins Hermione gave you so you can check the time for the next meeting."**

**"Don't worry Harry!" Ernie cried again. "All of us are devoted enough to keep that forever!" He punched the air, others following his suit and Harry felt himself drifting back into the compartment. He was about to say something to all of the people inside of the compartment when a knock on the window startled him slightly.**

**There knocking was the first or second year girl he had saved just a moment ago. He got up and opened the door to look down at the thoroughly frightened child.**

**"Er-" she stuttered, Harry was suddenly reminded of his shyness back in his first year.**

**"Yes?" Harry said as kindly as he could, crouching down to face her light blue eyes.**

**"Umm thank you for saving me." She said quickly, blushing deeply. Harry threw a wide smile at her.**

**"You first year?" Harry asked and she nodded. "We'll look out for you don't worry, you wanna come in?"**

**"Er sure…" she said, ducking under Harry's outstretched arm and sat down next to Neville.**

**"So what's your name?" Harry asked her with the same kind voice he had reserved for her as he was seating himself back down beside Hermione.**

**"Umm Eleanor, Eleanor Cullen," she mumbled looking down at the floor.**

**"No need for you to be shy, we're here to help you." Hermione said, making her look away from the floor and at her. "Hermione Granger." She added, throwing a smile her way.**

**"Ron Weasley, yeah I'm part of that poor family." Ron said next.**

**"I – I've nev-er heard of you." Eleanor squeaked and Ron shrugged.**

**"That's normal I guess…" he said, looking back out the window with a depressed look on his face.**

**"Luna Lovegood. I live near him." She said nodding to Ron who looked surprised.**

**"You do?"**

**"You didn't know? Anyway, this is nobody." Luna introduced Neville in the same way he introduced himself the previous year.**

**"Stop saying that, he's Neville Longbottom." Harry told her.**

**"Oh – oh your poor parents…" Eleanor squeaked quietly, looking over at Neville who seemed to sink into his seat even more.**

**"Harry Potter, you've no doubt heard of me." Harry said, drawing her attention back to himself.**

**"H-Harry Potter? I – I never thought I would… meet you-you here of all places…" She said, making Harry lean back into his chair and frown.**

**"Why is that?"**

**"Er – I don't know… it's just… you're so nice to me… you're a prefect aren't you?" Harry shook his head.**

**"Those two are." He nodded at Hermione and Ron.**

**"Oh, oh it's just… just you were so nic-e to me…" She said, looking down at the floor again.**

**"Well that guy who was chasing you is a prefect as well." Harry told her, making her face come back up again.**

**"Real-ly? Why-y."**

**"I guess he's one of the decent people in Slytherin." Luna said, pulling out the familiar _Quibbler _magazine and flipping it upside down.**

**"Very true, Sytherin isn't full of very pleasant people." Harry added to her, ignoring the confused expression on her face. "And if that git's decent; what does that make the rest of the house?" Realization dawned onto her face and she smiled.**

**"I-I don't want to be in that house." She stated.**

**"Who does besides Death Eaters?" Ron pointed out and everyone in the compartment replied with a laugh.**

**"I doubt _everyone _in Sytherin is evil Ron." Hermione said coolly, looking at him with a frown.**

**"Really Hermione?" Ron returned equally as coolly. "Anyone I would know?"**

**"Well no bu-"**

**"Exactly, now do everyone a favor and shut that mouth of yours." Ron looked away when Hermione was just about to contradict, she opened and closed her mouth at random intervals, frustrated she stood up.**

**"I'm going to get changed." She stated her aggravation quite clear.**

**"Hermione the train isn-" Harry started.**

**"Not now Harry." Her dark brown locks seemed to flash with lightning as she interrupted Harry.**

**"Alright, go ahead." Harry nodded to her, understanding how she was feeling. She opened the compartment door and let it close soundlessly.**

**An eerie silence echoed in her wake around the usually lively compartment. Harry tried making a few stabs at a conversation, but between Eleanor's shyness and Ron's dismissive attitude; they didn't usually don't last long. Harry felt his irritation peak at one moment as the train was passing through a forest, trees momentarily were seen in the window and Harry felt himself watching them fly by, a bunch at a time.**

**He suddenly got up, wanting to mimic Hermione's actions to go look for her. He left the compartment mumbling something about a washroom. He looked around the one lined corridor, searching for his friend. He saw her, just a bit of distance away, pacing the hallway and peering into the windows of all of the compartments she passed by.**

**Harry rushed to her, tentatively tapping her on her right shoulder; she seemed to know it was coming, for she did not jump at the tap.**

**"What'd you want Harry?" She asked without looking at him, but continued along the one lane corridor.**

**"Don't go nuts over Ron." Hermione rotated her entire body so she faced him; Harry noticed a _very _distinctly angry expression on her face.**

**"I am _not _nuts over Ron!" She replied, using Harry's choice of words.**

**"Hermi-"**

**"Save it Harry, I'm not angry with you just that _insufferable _imbecile that you call a friend. You should be going back to him, he'll probably want to talk about Quidditch or whatever with you." Hermione started to turn again, her brown locks swaying slightly with the sharp turn.**

**"No Hermione." She stopped and rotated her face so it faced him when the front of her body did not. "I don't feel like talking about Quidditch right now."**

**"So what does the sacred Harry Potter _want _to talk about!" Hermione turned, her hands planted firmly on her hips.**

**"Oh come on, you know how much I hate-"**

**"I know Harry, I know." She let out a long breath of air and looked down at the shaking mat bellow them. "You didn't deserve that, I'm sorry."**

**"You don't have to be." Her head moved, quite slowly, from the ground to face Harry's. "I've acted like that for a long time, and now I-I can fully understand what it feels like to be on… on the receiving side… I guess." Harry said, blinking a couple of times after.**

**"H-Harry, you're _such _an idiot." With that said she threw her arms around Harry's neck, making him stagger quite a bit but his mind seemed to push the slight surprised feeling away and replaced it with a new feeling. One Harry did not recognize, he felt rather… thrilled… careless even. Sudden warmth radiated from the spot where the two friends were connected, Harry's mind bathed in the warmth coming from his friend.**

**A moment later the feeling was gone, and Harry's eyes opened to face those of Hermione's.**

**"Y-you don't have to be sorry Ha-harry." Hermione stuttered, apparently she too had felt the bewilderment feeling of the simple, friendly, gesture.**

**"Oh I do Hermione, I do." Harry said revolving his body so that it faced away from his friend but his right eye was still locked with Hermione's facade. "You coming?"**

**"Yeah – yeah sure," she answered, falling into step behind Harry.**

**The rest of the Hogwarts trip passed quite smoothly, the friends all swapped tales about their summers, speaking their wants and desires for this new next year. Soon enough Hogwarts came into sight, the moonlight shinning off of the many lights blinking around the magnificent castle.**

**Harry watched the majestic castle until it passed out of view behind the station of Hogsmeade, the train halted quite abruptly sending a momentary earthquake throughout the train, causing many people to trip or fall off of their seats.**

**_"Seems like I was the only one bright enough to brace myself," _Harry reflected in his mind's eye. The young wizard helped his friends get to their feet. An interesting event was Neville tripping on his robes and falling to the ground again, it was replied with a helping hand from Harry along with laughs from all around. Neville rose from the ground, mumbling thanks, and his cheeks red.**

**The company left the train in one huge pack. Harry, with a laugh, noticed Malfoy blinking very rapidly as well as hitting himself on the head every few seconds. He pointed this out to his two best friends, Ron and Hermione; who both laughed, though Ron's was much more emphasized. It seemed Hermione was slightly disgusted at the effect of these jinxes and hexes on any human.**

**"Al' righ' there ye' three?" The welcoming greeting Hagrid seemed to have reserved for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, flowed into Harry's ears as he strained to find his friend.**

**"Yeah, what about you?" Harry greeted in return while the half-giant shrugged, bumping a short third-year girl in the head, apologizing to her while Harry and Ron laughed merrily.**

**"Oh I could've been alo' better ye'." He grunted. "Lemme take car' of these firs' years eh, I'll see ye thre' at 'he feast righ'?"**

**"Oh you betcha Hagrid, I'm starving." Ron yelled to him, Hagrid nodded slightly and continued his call for the first year students.**

**"Seems less upbeat eh?" Hermione muttered in Harry's right ear making him jump slightly from fright.**

**"Er – sure," Harry muttered back quite lamely.**

**The trio soon found one carriage inhabited by Luna and Neville right at that moment, they climbed into, Harry made a move to climb into the carriage but saw Hermione gaping at the…**

**"You can see the Thestrals?" Harry exclaimed to her, bringing the Witch back from her trance.**

**"Uh? T-those are-e T-Thestrals!" Hermione stammered, taking a few seconds to lift one finger up and position it directly at one of the Thestral's eyes.**

**"Yeah they are. They aren't as bad as they look." Harry nodded into the carriage where the rest of their friends were awaiting the two of them. "Come on, Ron and the others are waiting." Hermione took another glance at the Thestrals before climbing in after Harry. **

**"H-How can I se-see them?" The petrified Witch spoke with a slightly pale expression.**

**"See what?" Ron called out randomly, in reply to this; everyone ignored his outburst.**

**"You'd know wouldn't you?" The Boy-who-lived said from across from Hermione.**

**"I-I suppose, but… wait." Harry leaned back in his chair, doing just as she asked.**

**"You can see _them _Hermione?" Luna asked her in the ensuing silence that followed Hermione's response.**

**"Y-yeah I-I think." The only Granger in presence stuttered again.**

**"What'd you mean you think? You either _can _see them or you _can't _see them right?" Ron said, getting the picture now.**

**"Ron," Harry looked up at him with an annoyed expression, Ron seemed to take the hint and looked the other way.**

**"Wait… I-I might've seen S-Sirius…" Harry's head flew upward quickly, looking at Hermione with wondering eyes.**

**"You were unconscious then, I remember Neville trying to carry you." He pointed his thumb at the quiet boy.**

**"Y-yeah, but I remember waking up at random points… seeing things… hearing things… I remember hearing your voice actually." Hermione's eyes connected with Harry's. "I-I couldn't make out anything t-though." Her head rotated away from Harry's face.**

**"How'd you know it was me then?"**

**"W-well I guess knowing you for five years has helped quite a bit." She smiled slightly at him, bringing her eyes up to face his once again for a second before dropping them down again.**

**The carriage then stopped, allowing the group of friends to enter Hogwarts, the school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry Potter stepped out of the carriage, Ron and Hermione just behind him; he stared up at the many blinking fires that seemed to dance all around and smiled.**

**He allowed the smile to broaden even more when he noticed a couple of ghosts floating around the exterior of the castle, chatting quietly, he saw a couple of second years stumble up the staircase and laughed, remembering how new he was to this school when he was that young.**

**"What's going on Harry?" Ron called, making Harry jump out from the carriage.**

**"S-sorry about that," Harry said, scratching the back of his head.**

**"The castle still makes you feel exhilarated eh?" Hermione responded.**

**"Uh? Oh… sure," Harry replied making Hermione laugh. The DA leader took the lead toward the castle, walking with hands in his pockets and his glasses down on the edge of his nose, he felt his gaze move toward the brilliant lights again, and he couldn't help but scold himself for not noticing the beauty before.**

**"Mr. Potter?" Harry now felt his gaze move to in front of him, where Harry's transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall stood with her glasses in the mirrored position of Harry's. "Will you please come with me?"**

**Harry felt his head rotate behind him, where Hermione and Ron stood with curious expressions on their faces.**

**"Don't worry Potter." McGonagall said briskly, drawing Harry's attention back. "You aren't in trouble, yet." McGonagall flashed him a slight smile which he returned.**

**"Alright," he said simply, falling into step behind her.**

**"I just wanted to officially inform you that you're now the Quidditch Captain of Gryffindor." She told him as they entered her office. "I need to tell you a few things before you go to the feast."**

**"W-wait Professor," Harry held up his right hand.**

**"Mr. Potter?" McGonagall replied with a questioning look.**

**"I-I'm Quidditch Captain?" Harry exclaimed bluntly. McGonagall nodded slowly, a disbelieving look on her face.**

**"I just told you that didn't I?" When Harry nodded she cleared her throat and continued. "As I said before, I needed to tell you a couple of things. One of them being you're in charge of practice dates, also that you're responsible for booking the Quidditch pitch, I've charmed the booklet so that _no _other person can sign their name other then the Captains of each team. In addition, you are also responsible for replacing the current vacant positions on our team."**

**"W-what?" Harry replied densely and McGonagall snorted, looking away still disbelieved.**

**"I thought you would be the perfect choice for Quidditch Captain Harry, but maybe I was mistaken."**

**"N-No I want the job, it… it's just a lot to take in at once alright!" The Boy-who-lived replied, quite irritated.**

**"P-Potter… what?" McGonagall was backing away slightly, a look of horror on her face.**

**"I thought I was the stuttering fool, looks like we've exchanged places eh?" Harry felt a smirk crawling onto his face, he suddenly felt his wand in his grasp, feeling quite comfortable, he lifted it and pointed it directly at McGonagall's face.**

**"H-Harry w-what?"**

**"POTTER!" The new voice startled Harry slightly, but he chose to omit it and continued to taunt McGonagall with his smirk. _"REDUCTO!" _The spell crashed into Harry's back, bouncing off to the side. Harry let a loud laugh out.**

**"There is only power Aran. Remember that as I kill this pathetic Witch. _Crucio_." McGonagall's scream erupted throughout the school, making body's get up, making forks drop, making food splatter away. Dumbledore's head came up, a slight frown on his face.**

**"Voldemort, you _bastard_!" The older male Wizard called Aran, ran up to Harry, trying to pull him away from the screaming McGonagall, but his body wouldn't move, the laugh continued, the screams continued.**

**"Harry, what're you doing?' The calm voice entered Harry's ears, echoing like none of the others. He felt his wand drop to the floor, the young Wizard felt his body turn, there facing him was Hermione Granger, her arms planted on her sides with a frown on her face. A light surrounded the girl, allowing Harry to focus only on her.**

**H-Hermi-one…" Harry fell to the ground, the world around him darkening.**

**_"Harry, you're going to be okay. Don't worry, everything's going to be fine." _The voice seemed to float into the young Wizard's head. Lingering and echoing as no other voice did, it held a calm yet stern approach to it. The angelic female voice allowed Harry to lay back comfortably in the small bed of the hospital wing in Hogwarts with relative comfort. His eyes were still closed, leaving his vision black, yet he was now conscious.**

**"The feast has… cancelled… hear." Harry heard slightly, he recognized the male voice. Yet it sounded rather distant, leaving him wondering who it was.**

**"… is it be…use of Harry?" The new voice was more familiar, female, stern sounding yet comforting all the same. Harry felt himself rise and his eyes open fully, blurry and distorted now.**

**"H-Harry!" The voice made Harry snap awake, his vision becoming sharper but he still couldn't make out the figures or the voices. He reached with gesticulation all around him, fumbling for his glasses. He felt someone grab his hand, a gentle grab, yet it made him stay still. He felt the person place something in his grasp, his glasses!**

**The person let go of his hand and Harry put his glasses on, the world around him coming into view finally. Blurry shapes flowed together, making a clear image of his two friends. Ron and Hermione.**

**"Y-you're…awake." Hermione blurted making Harry chuckled.**

**"Apparently," Harry said with equal bluntness and both Hermione and Ron chuckled in response. "So is anyone going to tell me how I ended up here?"**

**"W-well you lost control of yourself again. It seems V-Voldemort (both Harry and Hermione ignored Ron's tremble.) won't stop attempting to take total control of you." Hermione explained, Harry falling backward in his bed, breathing loudly. "You attacked McGonagall." Harry snapped upward again.**

**"I-I what!" The DA leader stuttered.**

**"Yeah no kidding," Ron put his input in for the first time, sitting on a nearby chair. "I didn't think you had the guts."**

**"Ron, it was Voldemort who did it." Hermione closed her eyes with slight frustration, turning slightly towards him. "Oh, and start getting used to the name will you!" It seemed Ron was still afraid of Voldemort's name. Hermione turned back to Harry, her eyes opening.**

**"Anyway," she continued. "Aran tried to subdue you, when he couldn't move you at all Dumbledore came and somehow got you to return to normal. You've been out for about two hours now." The _know-it-all _answered Harry's thoughts.**

**"Aran? Isn't he that German Wizard working for the O-" Ron shushed him at that moment, looking around. Harry left his mouth open, apparently bewildered that they could not speak about the Order of the Phoenix here.**

**"Apparently some Ministry Wizards are here right now, so keep quiet about the Order right now." Harry opened and closed his mouth several times, actually looking quite confounded**.

"Oh you're up then, that's a good sign." Madam Pomfrey, the slightly ecstatic school nurse rushed over to Harry's side and placed, in his hand, a small goblet full of a navy blue liquid. "DRINK UP!" Harry flinched slightly. "You expect me to tell you, a sixth year student who has come here more than _any _other student, to drink what I have given you!" She said quite speedily and irritating. Harry felt a rush of anger flow through him, his facial expression changed suddenly, Harry felt rather distant, slowly losing control of his own min-

"H-HARRY!" Hermione reached over and grabbed his shoulders, making his head shake and his eyes return to their normal color.

"W-wha…?" The youngest Potter glanced at her outstretched hands. Grasping, quite tightly, on his own shoulders. She quickly let go and returned her hands back to her lap.

"Sorry, you looked like you were about to… you know…" Hermione left the explanation hanging for she knew Harry understood her without having to say anything.

"What? What happened?" Ron asked, quite confused.

"NOTHING!" The nurse yelled, startling all of the Gryffindors. "OUT, OUT, OUT! THE YOUNG LAD NEEDS CARING! OUT, OUT, OUT!"

The two friends left hurriedly both sending their respective goodbyes to him. Harry lay back, quickly falling asleep without the navy blue liquid inside of him.

_"Can you hear me Harry?" _True enough the voice echoed as the other angelic one did in his mind's ear.

_"Y-yeah I suppose." _Harry thought back, surprised to hear his own voice.

_"Good, very good, this means we're finally connected Harry. Now tell me, which person do you treasure the most?" _Harry found the question innocent enough, the friendly neighbor just wanted to know who Harry's best friend was.

_"Er – Ro… no not really…"_

_"Take your time Harry; think about this, there's no rush." _Harry found the voice comforting, making him relax and speak his mind truthfully.

_"Hermione," _Harry said truthfully, he was surprised by this though. He always considered Hermione a friend, but did he honestly treasure her the most in his life? He distinctly remembered the Department of Mysterious "fiasco" (as it was deemed), he remembered the prospect of her death. The empty feeling that consumed his entire body, the blame on himself, the relief feeling when… who was it? Told him that she was still alive.

_"Who is this Hermon?" _Harry didn't care that this new friend got her name wrong, though truthfully Harry did not see what was so difficult about the pronunciation of the name.

_"Her-MI-O-knee," _Harry told the visitor the correct pronunciation. _"She's the best person to have as a friend."_

_"Why do you consider her your most treasured friend?"_

_"W-well she's got me out of a lot of tight spots. We've always shared this complete understanding of one another… I just can't imagine my life without her…"_

_"Good…" _Harry frowned when the voice changed… it sounded like a hiss was added… Harry's frown developed even more.

_"W-wait… who are yo-"_

_"What can you tell me about this Hermione?" _The new question threw Harry off, making him feel blissful yet again.

_"She's smart I guess… best in our year probably. Always has this bag strapped over her left shoulder probably full of books too." _Harry's frown was replaced by a wide grin.

_"What would you do if you lost her?"_

_"I-I don't know… wait… why do y-"_

_"I think that is enough for tonight Harry. We'll meet again to discuss this Hermione more at a different time."_

Harry felt himself snap upward, his head floating with echoes of random phrases.He shook his head, looking out the nearby window and seeing moonlight seeping through the glass, he felt himself draw back to sleep. Not remembering the odd conversation at all.


	7. Chapter 6: The Kingdom of Will

Cry of a Restless Soul

Summary:

The reader is now introduced to two new teachers, one expected and the other not. Voldemort, as usual, is trying to dig for some information in Harry's mind while he wanders, quite confused. A familar name pops up and Harry is even more confused because of this new name...

Chapter Six:

The Kingdom of Will

The seemingly bright rays of sunlight blinded the, now, opening eyes of Harry Potter for a second. He shut them a second later, stretching; he sat up, opening his eyes again. The young wizard started, unconsciously, gazing around him and soaking in the appearance of the hospital wing.

_"What was that?" _Harry's head snapped upward, surprised by the sound in his head. _"You don't know! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"_

"Ow…" The memento of his first encounter with the Dark Lord stung slightly, burning into his head. He lifted a hand up to comfort the scar slightly.

_"Wor-" _The voice startled Harry again, the voice came from inside his head it seemed. _"No, I do not need to speak your name. Get me Regulus."_

_"Regulus?" _Harry thought to himself, why did that name sound so familiar.

_"What?" _The Boy-who-lived swore, apparently the person connected to him could hear his thoughts. _"Looks like you've decided to pay a visit eh Harry?"_

_"V-Voldemort, get out of my mind!" _Harry thought hard, frowning at the laugh that echoed in his threat's wake.

_"Do I need your permission to leave your mind? I go where I please Harry; you are the idiot that's let me into your mind."_

_"Let me repeat this," _Harry thought back. _"GET OUT OF MY MIND!" _The Potter heard a slight laugh then a snarl of pain.

_"Hmm, this is going to be difficult then. You've given me what I wanted Harry, I thought I would hang around for a few more moments but it seems that was 'another old man's mistake.' Enjoy your day Harry." _With a laugh, Harry felt his mind become void of anything a second later, the young wizard fell back, his back slamming against the stone wall behind him.

"Harry!" For a second Harry thought the intruder of his mind had returned, but looked to his right to see young Ginny Weasley looking at him with a wide smile on her face. "Hey, you're alright I see." In response, the Wizard nodded. The girl walked forward, her shoes clicking only with the floor, echoing around the large room.

"What're you doing here?" Harry asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Checking on you of course, Hermione actually sent me here. She's busy… you know… reading." Harry laughed slightly, the noise not really escaping from his diaphragm.

"So what's happened around the school?" The Boy-who-lived threw another question her way.

"Well the feast's been cancelled because of yo-" she stopped, looking up at him with round eyes.

"Do you know what _exactly _happened there? Hermione didn't tell me the last time I saw her." Harry looked away from the tiny girl, his gaze landing on the glass windows on the opposite side of the wing. Ginny continued nonetheless.

"Not really," she said. "All I know is that you somehow lost control of yourself and started to attack McGonagall." Harry felt his gaze move back to her.

"Is that so?" She nodded. "Well I-"

"WHAT IS THIS!" The new voice startled both Gryffindors, Ginny falling out of her chair. "VISTORS AT THIS TIME OF THE MORNING! MY PATIENT NEEDS REST!"

"Madam Pomfrey," Harry said, trying to defend Ginny. "I would get more sleep talking with Ginny here then with you yelling."

"Oh think you're all smart then Potter!" The nurse had her hands on her hips and her frown was quite pronounced. "THEN GET OUT!"

"Wh-what?" Harry stuttered.

"YOU HEARD ME! OUT! YOU'RE PERFECTLY FINE! GET OUT!" Soon enough Harry and Ginny were running out of the hospital wing and slowly making their way to Gryffindor tower.

The two Gryffindors walked to the tower in silence, both trying to catch their breath. Soon the familiar portrait of the fat lady was in sight and Ginny approached it.

"Eternal," the red haired girl said, and the portrait opened. She crawled in and Harry followed behind her. Entering the familiar Gryffindor common room was a relieving feeling for Harry, seeing his two friends sitting near the window and pointing at multiple things. Hermione turned her head around and a smile blossomed on her expression.

"You're out of the hospital I see." She stated getting Ron's attention and making his head twist around as well.

"Yeah… yeah I suppose." She chuckled at this response, jumping off of the window ledge and making her way toward Harry.

"How're you doing?" Ron asked, mimicking Hermione's action.

"I've been in worse spots." Harry answered, sitting down and letting a long breath of air gush out of his lungs. Hermione came and sat down in the neighboring chair while Ron sat in the one nearest to the unlit fireplace.

"So what're you going to do about this problem?" Harry heard the question that came from Hermione quite clearly, but he did not respond at once. He knew what problem she was talking about, the lack of mind defense that Harry had. He knew he needed to learn Occulmency well enough…

_"And quickly enough too," _he couldn't help adding in his mind. He looked up to his female friend's curious look and shrugged.

"Maybe I'll just go ask Dumbledore for someone to teach me." Harry said mildly. "So what're we going to do until the feast?" Harry asked no one in particular, reflexively flicking a loose thread of hair from in front of his right eye.

"Want a game of chess?" Ron suggested and Harry shrugged; muttering an "I guess…" response.

The time seemed to fly by quickly; Ginny came and watched periodically, disappearing every few seconds with her newfound boyfriend Dean Thomas. Hermione did not watch the violent chess game, but decided to borrow Neville's book on wandless magic again.

"Apparently wandless magic is part of the sixth year curriculum." She said abruptly as Ron's queen cut one of Harry's bishop's head off.

"Wait," Ron said looking up and away from the game. "That means we're going to learn that stuff this year!"

"Brilliant deduction," Hermione grunted, Ron muttering something Mrs. Weasley would surely yell at Ron for saying.

Harry glanced upward when the portrait hole opened. He saw Hermione's two roommates, Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, crawl in, sly smiles on their faces. Parvati seemed to notice Harry's stare and held up a hand.

"Hey Harry." She said smiling; her long dark hair seemed to flow down onto her shoulders rather pleasantly. Harry couldn't help but remember staring at her glistening hair during their History of Magic exam the previous year.

"How're you doing Parvati?" Harry asked her as she came to sit down next to the chess board, Lavender sat down behind her.

"Good to be away from my parents! Summer could have gone better." She added, seeing Harry's confused expression.

"What happened?"

"Oh just a family argument, my parents don't want me to come here anymore." She said, watching Harry's Pawn feebly cower under the Queen's hard stare. Harry's Castle yelled something inaudible and Harry thought it was because it had no form of mouth anywhere on it.

"It's because of me or Dumbledore right?" The Boy-who-lived said, ignoring the Castle's continues cries. She nodded sadly, the smile now gone from her pretty visage.

"Dumbledore mostly, but your name came into the argument. Mum says you're still the same lunatic that the _Daily Prophet_'s made you." The sixth year girl responded.

"That's what you get for reading the _Daily Prophet _too much." Hermione said abruptly, making both Harry and Parvati stir slightly.

"What'd you mean?" Lavender shared her questioning input finally.

"Nothing really, just that the _Daily Prophet _is causing more trouble then Voldemort is right now." Ron, Lavender, and Parvati all trembled at the name and Harry and Hermione shared a smiling conversation.

"I don't get how you two can say the name…" Parvati said, shivering again.

"They're both brought up by Muggles." Parvati's best friend pointed out and Parvati's eyes darted back and forth between the two fearless ones.

"B-but Hermione used to say 'you-know-who'!" Parvati's head turned back to Lavender, a frown appearing. "Why the sudden change?"

"Because I recently realized how ridiculous the entire fear-of-the-name idea is. It's just another method of Voldemort gaining control without even being here." Hermione answered, not looking up from her book.

"W-what?" Parvati said dumbly and Harry let out a laugh. She turned sharply and frowned at him.

"You get used to it after a while." Harry stated, looking up at Hermione to give her another grin.

"Get used to what?" Ron said, looking up from the chessboard for the second time. Harry shook his head, moving his own Queen in and smirking.

"Checkmate." Harry said, looking up at Ron with a wide smirk.

"W-WHAT!"

"Look, my Bishop's here, and my Queen's here." Harry said, still fighting his laughter off, indicating the spots on the chessboard where Harry had Ron's king pinned down.

"Wh-what!" Ron repeated, now looking quite surprised at Harry's sudden laughter.

"Good job Harry!" Parvati said throwing a pearly white smile Harry's way.

"What is that? The first time ever?" Hermione finally looked up from her book and frowned at Harry.

"Y-yeah it is." The DA leader said, his grin disappearing.

"Then we can just blame it on luck." Hermione told him coolly, going back to her book.

"Oh come on Hermione, be a little more encouraging." Parvati scoffed.

"I am, I'm telling him, unconsciously, not to get overconfident."

"How does that mean overconfident!" Parvati screamed, standing up with her hair now on lightning.

"P-Parvati it-it's just a g-" Harry tried to calm her down but she just looked at him with daggers shinning in her dark eyes.

"Shut up Harry." She stated simply and Harry followed. Her head whipped back to Hermione's, who was mildly participating in this argument. "You're such a pessimist, why not tell him: CONGRATULATIONS HARRY! Rather then putting him down!"

"Because there's absolutely no use in congratulating him on luck, in addition, I do not consider myself a pessimist." She contradicted, still not looking at the angry Parvati.

"LOOK AT YOU! YOU THINK YOU KNOW HARRY SO WELL!" Parvati was now yelling and Hermione dropped her book, standing up and looking even angrier then Parvati.

"THAT'S BECAUSE I _DO _KNOW HARRY BETTER THEN YOU DO!"

"OH REALLY! WHAT'S HARRY'S FAVORITE COLOR?"

"Wh-what?" Hermione stepped back, surprised by the simple question.

"GREEN! RIGHT HARRY?" Harry nodded surprisingly, in fact he didn't even know if green was his favorite color. "SEE! I KNOW MORE ABOUT HARRY THEN YOU DO!"

"YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT! YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT THE FEELINGS OF HARRY DO YOU? YOU JUST SEE HIM AS A FAMOUS ARTISIT OR WHATEVE-"

"Let's get out of here." Ron said, Harry, with the acute hearing of youth; omitted the heated argument. "Lavender's already left and I think we should follow her." Harry nodded and ran after Ron up the boy's dormitory staircase, stopping to glance back at Hermione and Parvati, neither had noticed the exit of their friends. After Harry closed the door with a snap, he let out a long breath of relief. Falling back on his bed he closed his eyes.

"So what'd you make of Parvati eh?" Ron said suddenly, making Harry's eyes open again.

"She seems… good enough I suppose." Harry answered, rolling on his side.

"What'd you mean by that? Good enough for you?" Harry sat up and fixed Ron with a questioning stare.

"She seems like a good person!" Harry emphasized each word.

"Oh, you misunderstand." Ron shook his head. "Is she _good looking_?" Harry was taken aback, he thought she was pretty and all, but did he honestly think that she wa-

"Yeah, good looking and all." Harry said, stopping his thoughts. "But do I fancy her? No."

"You went to the ball with her!" Ron smirked, knowing Harry's face was quite red. Harry felt his Adam's apple give an icky sort of jiggle.

"Because there was no one else to go with," Harry said, looking away. "Anyway, I've got better things to think about then girls. He heard Ron sit down on his bed, the springs clinking slightly.

"Don't tell me…" Ron started slowly, muttering. Harry rose, looking at Ron from behind his glasses.

"What?"

"You don't like Hermione do you?" Ron said quickly and Harry falling off his bed, the laugh that erupted from Ron's mouth made Harry scoff.

"W-what? I respect Hermione a lot but I don't like her or anything!" Harry said, getting off of the floor and brushing off his clothes. "Don't you have something better to do!"

"H-Harry, come on mate' I was only jo-"

"I THOUGHT YOU OF ALL PEOPLE WOULD BE ABOVE GOSSIP!" The Boy-who-lived yelled, his facial expression sparking slightly.

"No! NO HARRY!" Ron screamed and Harry laughed.

"You are weak Weasley, a Mudblood lover too. You shall pay for your incompetence to Lord Voldemort!" Harry lifted his right hand, Ron now pale white and shivering repeatedly. Just then, Harry dropped the wand that came to his right hand, for the door behind him slammed open.

"I-I'm so sorry Harry. Parvati jus-" Hermione paused, looking between her two friends. "Harry? HARRY!" She ran to him, taking his wand away and fixing a hard stare on him. "GET OUT OF HARRY!" She yelled, making Harry quiver slightly. Harry then crumbled to the ground, breathing and conscious still.

"D-damnit…" Harry muttering, trying to pull himself up, and was soon standing up. A hand pressed to his scar, which was burning rather badly. "D-damn… you Voldemort…" Ron did not shiver this time, for he was panting rather badly.

"R-ron?" Hermione walked over to his pale body. "A-are you alright?"

"I-I've never seen you-know-who before." He said rather high pitched.

"Uh? You've never seen Voldemort before and now that you have…" Ron twitched rather badly at the sound of his name.

"What's wrong with him?" Harry walked over to Hermione's right, a hand still pressed against his forehead.

"Fright perhaps," Hermione mumbled, pulling the covers over him. "I think Madam Pomfrey's had enough for today, and Ron just needs to calm down and sleep." Hermione pulled out her wand and flicked it twice, two chairs appearing on either side of the bed.

"Thanks." Harry muttered, seating himself on the other side of Hermione. There they sat, watching with pained expressions, their friend twitching randomly.

Soon enough familiar rays of sunset could be seen through the many windows around the sixth year male dormitory windows. Harry looked up at Hermione who shrugged.

"I'm not that hungry." She said honestly, looking back at Ron. Their friend seemed to have recovered but was, at this moment, still twitching periodically.

"How long has it been? Two hours? The fright should have worn off by now shouldn't it?" Harry said, looking back at Hermione who shrugged again.

"Did you do anything to him?"

"I-I don't know." Harry felt a sagging feeling of guilt burst inside him out of thin air. "I might have, I don't remember anything…" Hermione's head moved from Harry to Ron again.

"I'm-I'm fi-ne… p-perfec-ctly fi-ne." Ron's voice came out of nowhere, Harry felt himself grin widely.

"You're okay then?" Harry said as he watched Ron rise and perch his arms behind him to support him.

"Y-yeah, let's go to the feast." He got out of bed and Hermione flicked her wand, making the chairs disappear and, simultaneously, causing Harry to lose balance. He recovered quickly enough, straightening himself from the awkward sitting-on-air position.

"You sure Ron?" Hermione asked him and he nodded firmly.

"Lead the way." He said to Harry, chucking a grin his way.

"A-alright, by the way, sorry," Harry didn't wait for an acceptance before opening the door and walking down the staircase.

"Hey Harry," the boy in question felt his head move automatically toward Parvati.

"Er – hello," Harry replied making her laugh a bit.

"You going to the feast?" The Boy-who-lived nodded mutely. "Let's go together."

"B-but Hermio-"

"Who cares about her! LET'S GO!" She grabbed Harry's arm rather tightly and pushed him through the portrait hole.

This was, most likely, the worst welcoming feast Harry had ever attended during his entire stay at Hogwarts. When Parvati wasn't bothering him with questions of his past or remarks about his life; Hermione and Ron were both looking at him with frowns. Harry felt guilt consuming him. Things became even worse when Lavender showed up; she added her input into the conversation which was quite…

_"Idiotic," _Harry finished for his thoughts. Even though he was the center of attention in this discussion, what they were talking about did not really concern him. Did he care how his hair looked? Did he care how their hair looked? Did he care what eye color he had?

_"Not in particular." _Harry stated in his thoughts. He glanced over at Ron and Hermione, who were both wearing frowns and muttering quietly. Harry suddenly felt a rip somewhere inside of him, this growing hatred for everything. He felt steam curling through his body, malice, utter destruction. Harry felt like ripping apart everything.

"Harry? Y-your eyes," The Boy-who-lived's head turned sharply to face Parvati's alarmed look. "They're different."

"Yeah… yeah they are Harry. Red doesn't suit you at all, what charm did you use on them?" Lavender asked and Harry snorted then laughed openly, a laugh that made everyone near.

"I did not do anything to them dear Parvati." Harry said, a smirk coming out of nowhere on his face.

"Ah Tom, so good of you to join us here at dear Hogwarts," Parvati and Lavender looked up and alarm and saw their headmaster, Albus Dumbledore looking right at Harry.

"Dumbledore," Harry snarled and a frown appeared on his face. He pulled out his wand but Dumbledore merely waved his hand and the wand disappeared from Harry's hand. Dumbledore held out his right hand and, with a puff of smoke, Harry's wand appeared there. Gasps erupted from all around the Great Hall; apparently the entire Hogwarts population was watching them right now.

"As I said those few months ago Tom, it was foolish to come here." Dumbledore did not have a face of anger on his expression but Harry stepped back.

"Harry is foolish enough to leave his mind open! You know I can still gain very valuable information from these small encounters!"

"Of course Tom, but now we _could _lock poor Harry up in a room in his lovely Gryffindor Tower for the entire year. Even if you were to take control of him periodically; he would not know what the rest of the school is doing." Dumbledore said calmly, the wand in his opened palm spinning speedily.

"Go ahead Dumbledore." Lord Voldemort snarled again. "How many other students are there here? All of them are weak Dumbledore. Mudbloods and Mudblood lovers like you!" Harry then spit on Dumbledore, gasps coming from every corner of the Great Hall. Dumbledore calmly flicked his left hand and the dripping spit disappeared. He muttered something about cleaning costs then looked up at Tom again.

"You may think that my students are… what was the word? Weak? Yes, yes you may think they are weak but, in essence, together they are stronger then even you Tom."

"IMBECILE!" He waved his two hands in a complex pattern in which no eye in the Great Hall could follow and a jet of black flame erupted from the end of his right palm. Dumbledore lifted another hand and deflected it with a wandless spell of his own.

"Go back to your clan Tom. You are too weak in Harry's body. Leave us alone Tom." With another spit, Harry's eyes rolled up in their sockets and he nearly collapsed onto the floor. Parvati leaped over the table and caught him before he fell though. He looked at her, with emerald eyes, and gave her a slight smile.

"I-I'm okay… what happened?" Harry's eyes darted around Parvati's arm and he saw Dumbledore standing with Harry's wand in his right hand.

"I believe this is yours." He said handing him the wand.

"P-professor Dum-Dumbledore?" Harry stuttered confused, his gaze then traveled to every eye around the Great Hall. Conveniently, all of which were staring right at him.

"Yes that is my title here at this institute." Dumbledore replied to his confused response, drawing Harry's attention back to him. "Here," he said abruptly; giving Harry a little slip of paper.

Harry automatically put it in his pocket to look at a later date. Dumbledore nodded to him, then turned sharply and went back up to the staff table. When the talk around the Great Hall resumed to its normal volume, Harry seated himself.

"What was that all about?" Lavender asked immediately but when Harry was trying to come up with an excuse, he was saved the trouble by Dumbledore.

"I apologize for the slight delay with Mr. Potter." Harry, once again, felt eyes dart to him; he distinctly noticed Snape's sneer expression.

_"Won't be seeing him much this year," _Harry thought to himself. He was glad for his Exceeds Expectations on his practical O.W.L. True enough it wasn't enough for him to get into the sixth year potions class, but Harry didn't want to survive another class with the slime ball anyway.

"Professor McGonagall? If you please." Dumbledore's calm voice brought Harry down from his reflection. McGonagall rose from her seat, bearing the battered sorting hat, she climbed down in silence. Every eye in the Great Hall was watching her movement is mirrored stillness.

She then placed the hat on the equally, if not more, battered stool that stood in front of the staff table. She backed away, and a rip sounded throughout the Great Hall.

_With our Mortal enemy lurking so far, yet so close, the alert rise and the weak fall. With valiance and vigor the four houses, fiery Gryffindor, soaring Ravenclaw, dripping Hufflepuff, and sneaky Sytherin, will fall together; clasped by the golden chain of trust and everlasting friendship. Each house carries with it, its own unique characteristics and element. Because of this, the four founders fell apart, divided by their own ideals, the golden chain shattered between them; their once true trust and valor flowing away across the river of time, never to be seen again._

_Then I was born, I was sewn by the four founders, each piece of me bearing a mark of the original four leaders and friends. My purpose was simple, to sort students into each of the houses, to let them leave their own mark on the history of Hogwarts, and the history of the entire world._

_Now the School was split up, it's founders turned into rivals and the students caring more about competitive activities than banding together under the same banner. Split apart now, fear, disbelief, and despair flowed quite easily through the students and the teachers._

_Time passed on quietly, students became failures and successors, the original founders found love and died peacefully, thinking their system to be rather… original and foolhardy. Now the world is in turmoil, untied we must stand rather then scattered individually._

_Gryffindor wished for cooperative people, Ravenclaw wished for the freedom of knowledge of the world, Hufflepuff wished for peace and prosperity, and Sytherin wished for utter power. If all of these characteristics came together, truly amazing things would start to occur._

_Remember this young magician, no matter where I put you; you will never be separated from the golden clasped chain that binds this institution together. Divide yourself even further from this chain, and it will break. Then the world will collapse, bringing everyone down with it. Including you!_

_LET THE SORTING BEGIN!_

Applause from all around replied the sorting speech. McGonagall stepped back from the hat and flicked her hand out, out of thin air came a roll of parchment. She yelled out something about calling names that Harry did not catch; for he was discussing the delayed sorting ceremony with the two female sixth year Gryffindors with him.

"So the sorting didn't start yesterday?" Harry said to Parvati.

"Yeah, you're little… thing came suddenly as… what's his name?" Parvati responded, looking to Lavender for an answer.

"Fredric Artur," McGonagall's voice flowed into Harry's ears.

"Yes! Him! Oh, isn't he cute?" Parvati's face, Harry saw the timid looking boy rushing towards the hat and was suddenly reminded of his youth. Of when he himself was under that hat, he blinked slightly when he thought he saw the hat turn towards him. After he squinted to get a closer look, it was facing forward and away from Harry.

"Where'd you reckon the firs' years slept last night eh?" Seamus Finnigan, a fellow sixth year Gryffindor asked Harry. Thankful for the opportunity to get away from Parvati and Lavender, he shrugged.

"In here?" Harry suggested.

"Yeah probably, little runts," He added with a gleeful smile.

"Don't go bullying them, or Hermione'll be on you with her claws digging into your eyes." Harry warned him, out of the corner of his right eye; he noticed Parvati look up at the sound of Hermione's name.

"What about that snotty loser?" She asked coldly. Seamus held up his hands and waved them with a frantic look on his face.

"I didn't say anyth-" he said quickly but Harry frowned at him and he shut his mouth and dropped his hands. Turning away he, continued to discuss with Dean and his girlfriend, Ginny.

"Hermione's not a _snotty loser_." Harry told her firmly.

"H-Harry! Don't tell me you like her!" Parvati said alarmed while Harry was closing his eyes and shaking his head. He omitted the silence around them and looked back up at her with a look that told her he was serious.

"Why is it that _everyone _thinks I have this thing for Hermione! She's just a _really _good friend! That's_ it_!" Just when Parvati was going to come up with a heated response, the sorting ended.

Harry sighed slightly; he wanted to know where Eleanor had ended up. He looked up and down his table, but did not see her through the many waving arms or ducked heads.

Cuisine from all around Europe appeared around Harry miraculously, he savored the taste of it, finding another excuse to distract him from Parvati and Lavender's discussions.

_"If you could call them discussions," _Harry felt himself say in his mind. He ripped part of the drumstick's meat he was currently feeding off of with great distaste. This distaste did not come from the food, but rather the people around him.

He felt his gaze move to his left, to the other side of the Great Hall and the other side of the Gryffindor table. There he saw, quite clearly, Hermione's laughing expression and a gesticulating Ron in discussion. He felt the same tug inside of him, that desire to be with his friends rather then the imbeciles he was currently eating with.

He leaned back in his chair, trying to get a view of Hermione's curly locked hair to comfort him slightly, but Parvati gave him a cold look and he moved his hold on the chair so that it would sit on all four legs, and Harry could see nothing but the people around him.

"What'd you like about her anyway." Parvati asked him with distaste. "Why'd you like her better then us?" Harry couldn't help but snort and she looked quite taken aback.

"She dislikes people for what they have become or what they've done. She respects people who deserve respect and trust, according to this little… ideal; she would only trust a few people."

"Wh-what?" Lavender replied dumbly and Harry snorted again, feeling a smirk crawl onto his visage.

"One of them being me for instance," Harry continued, ignoring the plainly stupid expression on Lavender's face. "I accept this trust wholeheartedly, since she doesn't trust or respect me for being the Boy-who-lived or a hero or whatever. But rather, an actual individual, she respects me because of what I've done with my life.

"Because of Voldemort I was alone during my childhood; she recognizes that, she knows what I've been through during the summer holidays. She knows what I feel like coming here." He held his hands around, trying to indicate to school. "And she sees what I've done in these five years. The events that allowed many people to live on, the events that made us survive the rest of the school year without horrible marks."

"H-Harry…" Parvati stuttered, looking quite stupefied.

"Ron's also one of my best friends because I can talk to him about anything a-a-and… I can laugh with him very easily. We're amused by the same things we are." Harry added, feeling less… deep with this little speech.

"And what about us? Why don't you ever come to talk to us?" Lavender asked him, frowning and indicating Parvati and her.

"I-I just don't like the things you like, we can never carry a conversation with these differences."

"What're we doing now then?" Parvati asked him, quite annoyed. Harry sighed and took a deep breath, grabbing a piece of chicken skin before Seamus, who was sitting beside Lavender across from him, could grab it. He stuffed it into his mouth, and with a swallow; continued.

"We're talking about something I _can _talk about." Harry said, grabbing a piece of chicken from Seamus's plate with relative ease, he didn't seem to notice Harry's seize, and he silently thanked his amazing seeker abilities. "Usually all you two talk about is Divination, which I despise, or feminine stuff…"

"He's right you know!" Dean the eavesdropper said. "All you two _ever _blab about is how amazing Trelawney is!"

The conversation about Harry and Hermione's friendship continued, much to Harry's dislike. He tuned out of it after Ginny, Dean, and Seamus all officially joined the conversation.

Soon enough, their utensils and platters disappeared. Harry's hand recoiled backward, much to his displeasure. He would have liked to have another drumstick...

"If I may have your attention once again," Dumbledore's strong voice came into Harry's hearing range. Silence ran apparent around the Great Hall. Mouths shutting and heads turning toward the elderly man; he cleared his throat and stared out at the crowd below him. "As I have reminded students for the past few terms, the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds, hence the name. This rule is merely a caution and is for your own safety. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, wishes me to repeat to all of you once again that magical devices such as fanged Frisbees and such are not allowed in the corridors or anywhere near the school.

"Dueling is also prohibited in this school except during various classes." Dumbledore paused, clearing his throat again. "Now, onto other events, I insist that we of Hogwarts introduce two new teachers today; one of them being a German Wizard who has gracefully accepted the job of Defence against the Dark arts, Professor Schmitz." Polite applause greeted the young adult as he entered the Great Hall through the same door that Harry went through during his fourth year (when he was picked as the fourth champion during the Triwizard tournament).

"I must also submit some depressing news, this being that our long time Quidditch teacher has suddenly fallen ill and will not be attending the Quidditch coaching duties. But, instead we have now retired Ministry member, Mr. Bagman!" Roars of applause suddenly burst out of thin air at the entrance of the unexpected ex-Quidditch player. Harry recognized the same wide grin that seemed to flash whenever applause greeted him.

Ludo Bagman stood on the same spot just outside of the door, in which he entered through, bowing and raising his hands. Dumbledore waited for the applause to die down and for Bagman to take a seat beside Hagrid, before continuing.

"On the subject of Quidditch, new captains have been made and the season will start promptly through October. Now then, off to bed with all of you." He clapped his hands and everyone stood up and prepared to leave.

"Oh I can't believe it!" Harry heard Parvati's familiar cry. "Ludo Bagman here!"

"Yeah I know! You don't happen to have a quill do you Harry? I need to get his signature before anyone else!" Lavender shared her input from behind Harry. The Boy-who-lived snorted loudly, and made his way through the crowd toward his two best friends. They smiled at him when he approached.

"Had fun with Parvati did you?" Hermione asked him and Harry snorted again making the two of them laugh.

"You two have to guide the first years don't you?" Hermione gasped while Ron groaned and they both turned, saying their respective goodbyes.

Harry walked out just behind the quite large pack of first years following his two friends. He unconsciously lowered his gaze to the floor and stuffed his hands in his pant pockets.

Was it merely a coincidence that Ludo Bagman had turned up out of nowhere with his pockets full of gold and had, instead of staying at the Ministry where he most likely earned more money, come to Hogwarts to teach little kids how to fly? Was it a coincidence that Madam Hooch, who had looked perfectly fine last year, suddenly turned ill?

_"Something might have happened over the summer…" _Harry thought to himself, frowning. _"Damn the Grangers, they distracted me from the events in the Wizarding world!" _

As Harry turned a corner, he noticed slightly that no one was around him. His footsteps echoing around the empty hallway, he continued to think.

_"If he's a Death Eater now then I may have to be extra cautious during Quidditch games." _Harry couldn't help but notice the incredibly obvious involvement of Death Eaters. Bagman probably found Voldemort during his run from the Ministry and Goblins and Voldemort decided to use him to get to Harry.

Harry snorted as he watched, out of the corner of his eye, as a figure in a portrait jumped off a cliff with some magically damaged wings and fell off of the picture; landing in the one below it with a loud crash.

"Harry? What're you doing here?" The boy in question looked up to see the familiar lost expression of Luna Lovegood.

"Uh? Where am I anyway?" He asked, looking around him for any recognizable land marks.

"You're probably closer to the Ravenclaw common room then your own. Isn't the Gryffindor's common room on the seventh floor?" Harry nodded. "Well, you're on the third…"

"Oh, oh I was just thinking and I didn't notice where I was going…"

"That's ok, happens to me all the time, 'cept I've never ended up on the third floor. Usually I end up in the dungeons, I find that rather extraordinary don't you?"

"Er- alright, which direction is the st-" She held up a finger that pointed behind Harry. "How helpful," Harry stated bluntly, starting to walk off without a thanks.

"Turn left at the first fork!" Luna cried out after him.

"Thanks!" Harry yelled back. With the help of the slightly misguided directions of Luna Lovegood, he ended up in front of the Fat Lady, her eyebrows raised.

"Password?"

"Etheral," Harry mumbled back and she burst out laughing.

"Wrong! No password no entrance!" Harry groaned and raked his brain for the password.

"Ethenal?" Another loud laugh. "I know it started with an 'E', Intern?"

"Eternal." Harry rotated his entire body to find someone vaguely familiar looking at him from the dark corridor. "Where's my thanks Harry?" Parvati Patil said stepping out from the shadows and climbing in first into the Gryffindor common room.

"T-thanks Parvati," Harry muttered, scratching the back of his head, embarrassed.

"You're welcome Mr. Potter; you're going to bed right?" Harry nodded, walking off towards the boy's dormitory staircase. "Good night Harry."

"Er- g'nite Parvati," Harry muttered back, climbing up the staircase with a confounded look on his face.


	8. Chapter 7: The Heart of the Storm

Cry of a Restless Soul

Summary:  
Chapter Seven up, one of the shorter chapters but some more stuff happens. Harry attends his first class and his first break, relationships are made and foreshadowed while a test looms just ahead for the protaginist; a test of logic and skill. A spell is mastered by two people and an old friend from a few chapters ago comes back with a vengeance.

Chapter 7:

The Heart of the Storm

"No more Sytherins!" A rejoiced Ron Weasley cried out the next day as they were handed their new timetables for their sixth year.

"You sure?" Harry said, straining to see his friend's timetable. "I've got one class with em', Herbology!"

"Oh, damnit you're right." The mood of the Great Hall this morning was rather lively, with the regular owls swooping in through the upper windows periodically, bringing sweets with them. Harry was quite surprised when Hedwig turned up with a small letter.

Harry automatically reached for it and ripped the top of the letter off. Ripping part of the letter as well.

"Good going Harry." Hermione said from next to him, not looking at him, but feeding herself some breakfast sausages. Harry pulled out the not ripped part of the letter and stared at the unfamiliar handwriting.

_Check your pocket._

The Boy-who-lived felt his empty right hand slide into his right pocket; there he felt the letter that Dumbledore had given him the previous night. He pulled out the folded letter and opened it.

_I'm poisoned, come and bring what I need._

"Uh?" Harry felt himself say, drawing the attention of his two friends.

"What Harry?" Ron and Hermione said in unison and Harry put the second letter on the table where they could both read it.

"This is from Dumbledore right?" Harry nodded.

"Does he mean it? He didn't look that sick yesterday did he?" Ron said with his usual unsure tone.

"Of course he doesn't mean it." Hermione answered coolly, turning back to her sausages. "This is just Dumbledore's way of telling you the password to his office. Harry felt his gaze move from Hermione's face to the letter in his hand.

If Hermione was right; then was the password…

"Antidote?" Harry spoke abruptly. Looking up to his two friends gazes. "Antidote, is that the password?"

"Doesn't Dumbledore usually have candies for passwords?" The Weasley said.

"Y-yeah he does… is there a candy that is used for an antidote?" Harry asked Hermione in particular, she didn't look up at Harry's questioning look, but continued to munch on her breakfast. She then swallowed, and put down her utensils, tucking a stray strand of brown hair behind her ear, she rotated her head to Harry.

"There's chocolate you know." She told him, the only Potter here nodded slightly. "Chocolate's great for relaxing someone."

"Yeah…" Harry felt himself say, though at that moment he noticed Parvati Patil walking out of the great hall, she turned to face Harry's gaze, smiling widely and lifting a hand up to wave at him. He felt himself nod in response and she disappeared behind the great doors.

"Something going on between you two?" Hermione asked him, having noticed his little interaction with the girl.

"Hm?" Harry mumbled absently. In response, the brown haired girl shook her head sadly.

"We need to go soon." She said rising and placing her utensils on her empty plate. "Class is starting in about… ten minutes." Harry rose after her, picking up his bag and walking towards the Great Hall doors that Parvati had just exited a second ago.

"What's the hurry Hermione?" The Potter heard his friend moan in protest. "What about th-"

"Come on Ron; forget about food for once will you? Harry's almost gone alread…" Harry couldn't hear anything more from his two friends, true he didn't put much effort in hearing their conversation but he could blame the fact that he was quite focused on his meeting with Dumbledore.

"You can't visit him now you know." Harry turned ninety degrees to see Hermione running to catch up with him, Ron just behind him; still chewing on something. "Classes begin in about…"

"I know Hermione." Harry spared his friend the pain of looking at the time on her wrist watch. "I wasn't thinking about the meeting anyway." He knew that Hermione could see through the lie but he chose to ignore that; instead choosing to walk away from them, towards their first class: defence against the dark arts.

The sixth year students couldn't say they were exactly… excited about defence against the dark arts any longer, owing to their previous year no doubt, with the scoundrel like teacher, Dolores Umbridge, though when the young Wizards and Witches entered their first N.E.W.T leveled class, they were surprised by the dark atmosphere.

No fire burned within the classroom except a single, minute, candle placed on the edge of each desk. The students found their way around, fumbling onto the desks, clearly not used to the dark, though Harry, thanking his visit to Hermione's basement, was quite used to looking around in the dark, finding small things that the eye could not see in the dark.

"Darkness," the word came out suddenly and sternly, silence fell around the classroom quickly. Each student was at a desk, though Harry had no idea who was sitting next to him on either side. "Knowing where you are in the dark is a skill necessary to Muggle or Wizard alike. If no candles are lit in a room with a Death Eater inside, he probably knows where you are, but not vise-versa." Fires erupted al around the classroom, illuminating it for the first time. Harry noticed that Hermione was currently sitting next to him, an awed expression on her face.

"I am Professor Schmitz," the German Wizard said, drawing the attention of the classroom back to him. "I am here to teach you the necessary things, when your wand is not available, what would you do?

"I am going to start off with a little test, not today!" He added hastily, hearing the groans go off. "Your next class with me is… Wednesday is it not? Today is Monday correct?" Nods accompanied each question. "Yes, yes so you have Tuesday to find one partner in the class. This test will be rather interesting… our headmaster has praised this class quite well, and that was before some of you dropped out of the course.

"Now then," he clasped his hands together, Harry noticed he was still cloaked and hooded so Harry could not see his expression. "For the remainder of this class, I think I will teach you a spell that might come in handy tomorrow. Can anyone tell me what the purpose of the _Impedimenta _jinx is?" Hermione immediately raised her hand. The hooded face of Aran Schmitz moved to her. "Yes, Ms. Granger?"

"When the _Impedimenta _jinx is used on another individual; the receiver is either slowed down or totally immobilized."

"Very good, everyone in this room _should _know that jinx already so I won't reward you for knowing it. I am going to teach you all a more advanced form of this spell. The _Duration _jinx, most, if not all, of you have not heard of this jinx correct?" Murmurs and nods came from every desk. "The _Duration _jinx is used to either speed up or slow down an object, you can completely freeze the target, or you can speed it up so much that it will faint." Laughs replied this statement and Harry knew that there was a slight grin on their Professor's face.

"That _may _sound like fun but imagine if you're the recipient. Running around like a maniac, no _idea _how to control your speed." The laughs died away fairly quickly. Harry was suddenly reminded of their fourth year, when their teacher showed the class what the _Imperius _curse was. "The incantation is simple enough, _Durane_." The professor aimed it at a spinning globe at the side of the room, when the blue ball, that was the spell, hit the globe; it suddenly slowed down to a stop.

"This takes practice of course, but remember; to practice what _needs _practicing. For instance, if you are having trouble with the wand motions, practice _only _those."

"That's good advice actually." Hermione said from beside Harry. "You wanna practice together?" Harry nodded, turning his chair to face her.

"You go first, I wouldn't mind watching your movements, because… well you'd probably get it more right then me." Harry said truthfully just as she was lifting her wand.

"Remember to think what you want to do to your target!" Their professor's stern voice called out from the other end of the classroom, where he was examining Parvati and Lavender's progress. "This spell takes both concentration and knowledge!"

"How do you reckon those two got here?" Harry asked Hermione, nodding his head to Parvati and Lavender.

"Ran out of other things to take no doubt," The Boy-who-lived replied with a hearty laugh at this. "Anyway, here I go Harry. _DURANE_!" Harry felt the spell hit his chest; nothing could have prepared him for this feeling, blissful yet secure. His mind was closed to others, yet when he opened his eyes everything was moving…

_"Slowly," _Harry finished his unsaid thoughts. _"Hermione made me slow!" _Harry watched Hermione's slightly blurry and distorted expression change from a frown to a wide smile very slowly. He rose, taking about thirty seconds to do so. He lifted a leg, though was surprised when his leg wouldn't come off the ground, he frowned, looking at the ground at his foot. His foot then rose quite suddenly and slowly, Harry was caught off balance and he fell to the floor.

Dizzy, he could now hear clear laughs coming from all around the classroom. He lifted his head and shook it, no longer in slow motion.

"You alright Harry?" Hermione's voice flowed into Harry's right ear; he looked up at her wide smiled expression.

"Y-yeah I'm fine, good job by the way." He used his collapsed chair as a boast to get up from the floor.

"I assume Ms. Granger was successful on her first attempt?" Harry rotated his head to see his professor, no longer hooded, smiling, fairly white teeth showing. Harry nodded mutely in response. "Very good indeed, ten points to Gryffindor. Now then, Mr. Potter, if you will…?"

Harry sat down across from Hermione, lifting his wand to point at her face. He concentrated on getting revenge; he decided to speed her up, thinking about a cheetah running across a barren field. Then the words came out of his mouth effortlessly.

"_DURANE_!" The blue ball hit her chest, gasping slightly, she fell backwards; off her chair. Then was up in a flash, her head darting back and forth, she turned, ending up at the other side of the classroom because of the simple gesture. Harry let out a loud laugh, watching Hermione's speedy journey around the small classroom, a simple blur moving at amazing speeds.

"_Ennervate_," the revival spell brought Hermione back to her normal speed, breathing heavily, she glared at Harry's gleeful expression. "Excellent work Harry, take another ten points. Now class, continue practicing the spell, and do not worry if you cannot do it on the first attempt as with these two. Class dismissed."

As the class filed out, Harry couldn't help but smile at his success at the advanced spell. Maybe he wasn't as bad as he thought.

"See? You're not _that _bad are you?" DA's leader turned to see his female best friend dashing towards him. He stood his ground, waiting for his friend, the rest of the class quickly faded away in the distance.

"What kept you?" Harry asked her, starting to walk beside her.

"Hm? Oh, I was talking with Ar- I mean… Professor Schmitz." Harry smiled down at her but it disappeared at her sad expression.

"Something wrong?" Harry observed in a question form.

"N-nothing," The Witch replied rather quickly. Harry gave her a slight grin and she sighed. "It's just… I seem to be slipping a bit haven't I?"

"You have? Oh right you have." Hermione snorted at this response, and Harry let out another hearty laugh. "Sorry – it's just… you know…" Harry laughed again at the unusual awkward situation between Hermione and him.

"Oh yeah, did you use that diary I gave you?" Harry shrugged slightly, staring absently at a Witch being clubbed by a Troll while a Goblin threw gold coins at it.

"I used it once, but then… yeah, stuff happened and…"

"You stopped using it?" Harry nodded, turning a corner and following his friend. "What class do we have next anyway?"

"Well I have Potions, so that means you must be on a break…" Harry frowned; pulling out his timetable, sure enough there was a blank spot on the second period of Monday.

"Shouldn't you be down in the dungeons by now?" Harry said; looking up to Hermione's frightened expression. She dashed off a second later without saying another word.

A second later, Harry thought, he was in his dormitory, looking at Ron who seemed to be gazing gleefully at…

"Ron what're you doing with _that_!" Harry ran to him and snatched the stone away from him, though it shone quite brightly, Harry had never seen it outside of the purple satchel it had come in, after Ron had given it to him at Hermione's house; Harry had shoved it inside of his trunk and forgot about it completely. Now Harry found himself staring at it, how did it manage to twinkle that brightly so majestically?

"Hey! Give it back!" This yell made Harry forget about the twinkling stone for a second, he looked back at Ron's greedy eyes and frowned.

"No Ron, this _thing _is anything but good news." Harry found the purple bag at the edge of Ron's four poster. He took it and jostled the stone into it, it seemed like the stone did not _want _to go in. Harry finally closed the lid of his trunk, leaving the stone in the dark, along with his invisibility cloak and his Quidditch gear.

"H-Harry… I'm… I'm sorry." Ron stuttered, looking crestfallen.

"Oh come on Ron." Harry said, feeling quite awkward in comforting his friend. "From what I've seen in the Wizarding world, _a lot _of stuff is dangerous and tempting. For instance, that amulet Luna showed you on the way here."

"What amulet…?" The Weasley asked in confusion, and then realization dawned on his face. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that, it's made from something Veela anyway."

"Exactly; you've got to get away from all of this stuff, this stone is nothing good. I know you gave it to me as a present, and I'm grateful for that." Harry breathed, sitting down on the edge of his own four poster. "But, really, I was planning on leaving it there; at the bottom of my trunk where it can't do _any _harm."

"What do you make of it anyway?" Ron asked, lying down on his back.

"Hm? The stone?" Ron nodded. "I don't know. It seems quite… ridiculous I suppose. Hermione _may _be wrong in the whole soul thing but, you know Hermione, she's always right."

"Ridiculous is right, a soul sucking rock that draws people to it!" Harry snorted and Ron burst out in laughter. "Where do you reckon Hermione found out about this stone anyway?" Ron's voice had a certain urgent edge to it.

"Probably found it in some book." Harry said absently. "Oh, you want to be my partner for the test thing?"

"T-test thing? What test?" Ron stuttered, sitting up straight, a look of panic on his face. Harry sighed heavily at this.

"The test for defence against the dark arts!"

"Oh… oh that." Ron shook his head, looking quite depressed again. "Neville and I are partners, he asked me during class… I-I was sitting next to him…"

"Oh… oh alright," Harry said, knowing he still had a partner in mind. "I'll just be with Hermione then."

"Lucky." Ron snarled slightly. Harry raised his eyebrows at this comment.

"Me?" Harry said in confusion.

"Yeah, you and Hermione are the best at defence against the dark arts, you're going to be… be the best." Ron said, looking away from him.

"Come on Ron, do you want me to partner up with someone like… like Parvati!"

"N-no not really…" Ron said quietly.

"Then shut up alright!"

"YOU SHUT UP!" Ron was on his feet, rage burning on his face. "I AM _SO _TIRED OF YOU AND HERMIONE ALWAYS BEING THE BEST! YOU _ALWAYS _FORGET ABOUT ME! YOUR '_OTHER_' FRIEND, WHAT AM I? A SIDE ATTRACTION!"

"YOU'RE THE IDIOT RON!" Harry's voice now matched Ron's in tone and volume. "WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK HERMIONE AND I HAVE SOMETHING FOR EACH OTHER! WE'RE ALL FRIENDS RON! NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS WE'RE ALL, ALL THREE OF US, ARE GOING TO BE TOGETHER!"

"H-Harry… I'm… I'm sorry." Ron's defeated voice said quietly, sitting back down. "C-can I just be by myself for a bit?"

"Yeah… yeah sure Ron," Harry said, breathing heavily. "Remember that we're all friends okay? No matter what happens alright?" Ron nodded, mumbling something Harry didn't hear.

Harry found himself staring at the unlit fire, wondering what he did wrong in there. He was quite thankful that Voldemort chose not to make an appearance there. Just then, the portrait door opened and Harry found himself staring at a tired looking Hermione Granger.

"Oh, hey Harry," she said, plopping herself down onto her favorite red stuffed chair. "How was your break?" Harry snorted at this and her slight smile was gone instantly.

"Ron and me…"

"Got in an argument?" Harry nodded and she sighed heavily. "I thought Ron and I had a lot of arguments!"

"He's got this impression that we're distancing ourselves from him though!" Harry said abruptly and loudly.

"Well we have haven't we?" Harry looked up at her with a disbelieving expression plastered on his face.

"W-we have?" Harry stuttered quietly, suddenly sounding a lot like Ron.

"Yeah… yeah we have. You came to my house instead of going to the Burrow. You and I always sat next to each during meals and classes…"

"Don't we always?" Harry said and she nodded slightly. "I don't see what's so different about us compared to the previous years."

"Ron's thinking differently, that's it." Hermione said with a finishing tone. "By the way, getting away from Ron for a moment, you want to be partners with me for that test?"

"Y-yeah sure… this is what Ron was complaining about though."

"What? Us being partners?" Harry nodded.

"Like I said before, he thinks we're distancing ourselves from him." The Boy-who-lived said sadly, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.

"So that's all you did during your first break?" Harry nodded at this comment.

"I wanted to schedule the first DA meeting but then I found Ron in the dorm…" Harry stopped.

"Found Ron in the dorm?" Hermione repeated, sounding quite confused.

"Staring at that Stone of the Condemned or whatever,"

"Stone of the Damned," Hermione corrected. "Why was he staring at it?"

"How should I know!" Harry yelled out, startling Hermione. "I-I'm sorry."

"It's alright; like you said, we're all on the edge nowadays, just calm down, nothings going to be accomplished if you keep yelling at every little thing." With this said, Harry took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

"I don't know why he was staring at it… but maybe it was…" Harry made some random hand motions, trying to convey what he meant through gestures rather then words.

"Drawing him to it?" Hermione seemed to understand Harry's gestures, for he smiled.

"Yeah… yeah I suppose. A lot of stuff in this world is dangerous. That's what I told him anyway."

"Why'd you leave him in there with the stone then?" Harry stood up abruptly, an alarmed expression on his face. "W-wait, let me go."

"Yo… you? Why you?" Harry said a slight panic edge in his voice.

"He'd rather see me than you," Hermione said rather bluntly. "It's lunch time anyway, go see Dumbledore."

"R-right, see you later." DA's leader then dashed off out of the Gryffindor common room, and quickly made his way to the headmaster's office. Soon he was facing the rather familiar gargoyle statue.

"Chocolate," the gargoyle sprang to life, a spiral staircase appearing for Harry to climb up. Harry knocked on the door he found at the top of the staircase, hearing a pleasant sounding voice come from the other side.

"Enter Harry."

_"Guess he stole Moody's eye." _Harry thought to himself, opening the door and finding himself staring at Dumbledore's shocking blue eyes.

"Truth be known, I did not expect your arrival until late this afternoon. Please, sit." He said calmly, lifting a hand to indicate the seat opposite of him.

"Thank you sir," Harry muttered.

"I take it you had young Ms. Granger's assistance in finding the meaning of my note then?" Harry nodded slightly, making Dumbledore chuckle quite loudly. "Ms. Granger's mind will be of further assistance to you. Now then," he clasped his two withered hands together, frowning slightly.

"I brought you here, young Mr. Potter, to start teaching you Occulmency by myself. Just as I said those few months ago, I made a devastating mistake in sending you too Professor Snape. But, you endured I see, you look just as you did at the beginning of the previous year!

"Now then," the elderly Wizard repeated. "If you wish for these random… occurrences to end…"

"Yes Professor." Harry interrupted sternly. "I would like to master Occulmency as quickly as possible."

"Good, very good Harry," he rose from his fine looking chair and pulled out his wand. "We are going to repeat most of the exercises you were performing during your… stay with Professor Snape. That means I will perform the Legilimens on you, and you will attempt to block it with your mind."

"Is this all Professor?"

"What's that Harry?" Dumbledore replied, frowning slightly.

"Is that all we're going to do sir?" Harry repeated, trying to bring a calm edge into his voice.

"Oh heavens no… no, no, this is the start Harry, once we have mastered this; we will move on the other things. Remember to be patient Harry, never get emotional in this. When emotions come into play, everything falls apart." Harry took a deep breath and nodded, then stood up and moved himself so that he was facing Dumbledore's wand.

"If you wish, you may take out your wand. I know from my past experiences that having my wand in my hand assists me more then anything, even _if _I'm not using it at all." Dumbledore advised and Harry nodded at this, pulling out his wand. "Are you ready Harry?" He nodded. "Very well. _Legilimens_!"

Harry felt the spell hit him, true he had prepared for it more then he had ever done with Snape, but Dumbledore seemed to be a lot more powerful. Harry saw random pictures whiz by at rapid speeds, blinking rapidly. Hermione was a cat, Ron just stuck his wand inside the Troll's left nostril, he was looking at the piece of toast floating in the middle of the lake just outside Hogwarts, the Dementor was closing in on Dudley…

Then Harry felt the spell lift, he collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily. Harry promptly coughed and spit out a small ball of spit that was annoying his mouth quite badly.

"Are you alright Harry?" Dumbledore asked concern evident in his voice.

"Y-yeah… yeah I'm fine Professor."

"Professor Snape's power and my own are quite different are they not?" Harry nodded, standing up and breathing heavily. "Would you like a glass of pumki-"

"No." Harry said sternly. "No, let's continue."

"Harry, I admire your dedication, but you can't learn Occulmency by killing yourself." Dumbledore lowered his wand and looked at Harry with the familiar expression of calmness. "Relaxation is the best weapon for the mind, when tense your mind doesn't work properly, jumbling things together that do not suit each other."

"Yes Professor. Now can we continue?"

"Very well Harry, prepare yourself." He raised his wand. "_Legilimens_!" Harry let his mind take control, diverting the spell slightly. He saw flashes of his memories, he even saw a couple of events that he did not recognize, but on closer examination; they disappeared.

"_Very good _Harry! You let your mind take control, rather then struggling by yourself!" Dumbledore said, grabbing Harry's shoulders to keep him from falling to the ground. "I think that is enough for today, you most likely have other events that need to be planned."

"Th-thank you Professor," after saying this, Harry found himself facing the Fat Lady's portrait a second later. Saying the password, he entered the Common Room to see his two friends sitting next to each other, their hands connected.

"Oh, hey Harry," Hermione said happily.

"H-Hermione… Ron?" Harry said surprised, looking at their entwined hands.

"Yeah, no kidding eh?" Ron said, grinning widely. Harry grinned back at him.

"Nice going you two, I can't say I wasn't expecting it sometime. Your bickering always had a hint of love in it." Both his friends blushed deeply at this and Harry let out a laugh.

"So how was the meeting with Dumbledore?" Hermione asked him as he sat down on her favorite chair. Right now Ron and Hermione occupied the couch across from the unlit fireplace.

"Well, I'm learning Occulmency from him. Hopefully that'll keep Voldemort out of my mind." Hermione punched Ron when he shivered at the name and giggled slightly when Ron punched her back.

"What about DA?" Ron asked him and Harry shrugged.

"I also got to plan the Quidditch tryouts, I think I'll do that now…" Harry got up and grabbed his bag from the dormitory, pausing to throw a greeting to Seamus who was reading a book. He raised a hand in reply and Harry left the dorm, returning to the couple, who were now locked together with their lips.

Harry cleared his throat and the two split apart, blushing deeply again. Harry grinned as he sat back down.

"What's a good time for Quidditch anyway?" Harry asked no one in particular.

"Well this weekend would be okay I suppose." Ron said with his usual uncertain tone.

"Yeah you're right." Harry scratched down on the piece of parchment _Saturday September 6th at noon, Quidditch tryouts for the Gryffindor team. Everyone available please go to the Quidditch Pitch. First years are welcome too._

The Boy-who-lived then stuck the piece of parchment onto the bulletin board right beside the portrait hole. He then fished out the all too familiar gold coin from inside of his bag. Pulling it out, he adjusted the date on it to Friday.

"Is Friday a good day for the first DA meeting?" Harry asked his two friends without looking at either of them, somehow this new relationship between them made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Yeah sure," he heard one of them respond.

"Lunch is almost over now; I'm going to go to class." Harry said, putting the gold coin back into his bag and leaving the common room to his two friends. He didn't even know what class they had now or even if lunch was almost over he just wanted to get away from them, he didn't want to see the entwined grips, the kisses, or anything.

Harry then kicked a nearby suit of armor, a slight squeak replying this attack. Harry didn't know why he was so angry or so tense, he just knew it had something to do with his two friends.

_"Does Ron now have something you don't?" _Harry's mind asked him, Harry frowned in reply to this. _"Is this jealousy coming from inside of you Harry? Tsk tsk tsk, I thought you were always better then Ron!"_

"Shut up…" Harry mumbled he stopped in his tracks, finding his timetable in his bag and looking at the fourth slot of Monday. He had Herbology now; he felt his feet quicken their pace, aiming his body toward the Entrance Hall.

_"Ah, shut up! I should remember that come back Harry!" _His mind started to say back to him. Harry stopped in his tracks again, finding this new voice quite annoying.

"Get out of my mind Voldemort." Tired of this idiotic disguise, he decided to get rid of Voldemort entirely.

_"Oh, you don't find my presence reassuring Harry? With me here I can get rid of that Weasley kid easily and then you can have Hermione all to yourse-"_

"GET OUT!" Harry yelled his voice echoing around the empty corridor.

_"Think about this Harry, you know you want Hermione to yourself…" _Harry felt his mind empty and he sighed heavily. Somehow he knew Voldemort was right, maybe Harry was thinking of Hermione as someth-

"Harry?" The voice startled Harry he looked up to see Ginny Weasley munching on what looked like a cookie in front of him.

"Oh, hi Ginny, how're you doing?"

"I'm doing okay I suppose, you look like you've gone through hell itself." Harry chuckled at this, falling into pace beside the young girl.

"Maybe I have, Voldemort's determined to not leave me alone." Harry noticed slightly how little Ginny now trembled because of the name and decided he underestimated the young Weasley.

"Why weren't you at lunch?" She asked honestly, Harry shrugged slightly.

"I had things to do, DA meeting to schedule, Quidditch tryouts to plan, meeting with Dumbledore."

"You've got to remember to relax you know, lunch is a break period you know." She said smiling up at him; Harry's heart gave out slightly.

"I have other break periods for that." Harry said looking away. "I have to go to class anyway, see you later." Harry turned and rushed away from the pretty girl.


	9. Chapter 8: Deliverance

Cry of a Restless Soul

Summary:  
Chapter eight of the "exciting" tale of Cry of a Restless Soul, while Harry is still coping with the newfound relationship of his two friends, a new test comes into play. Harry and Hermione find themselves not dueling with Death Eaters, but rather solving problems as they make their way through multiple passageways deep under the Hogwarts castle. Though when Harry makes his way down the corridor and finds himself facing a young girl...

Chapter 8:

Deliverance

Tuesday passed without much incident, Harry tried his best to avoid both Ron and Hermione, and no doubt trying to escape from the uncomfortable feeling he always felt whenever they were in embrace. Harry felt relieved when their defence against the dark arts class came on Tuesday's afternoon.

At this moment, Harry was leaning against the stone bricked wall beside the entrance to the defence against the dark arts classroom. He started to pace, absently whistling an unfamiliar tune. He felt his gaze move to the nearby window, wondering where everyone was. He looked at his watch…

"Ten after one…" Harry mumbled. Another ten minutes till the start of the class.

"Hey, you okay Harry?" Harry felt his head turn to see Neville Longbottom looking at him with curious eyes.

"Y-yeah I'm fine. Do I look that terrible?"

"N-no of course not Harry, I just tho-" Harry let out a laugh, patting the shorter boy softly on his right shoulder.

"I just got off on the wrong side today, that's all." Harry let go of Neville, moving back to the windowpane and moving his gaze to the nearby Forbidden Forest. He felt his thoughts drift toward Grawp, Hagrid's half brother who just _happened _to be a full breed giant.

Harry barely noticed the entrance of most of his fellow sixth year Gryffindor students. Out of the corner of his eye; he saw Hermione and Ron start to approach him, their hands still knotted and gasps erupting from all around them.

"Where'd you go mate'?" Ron said as soon as he got close enough for a conversation to start.

"Around," Harry grunted in reply, hearing the bell. "Let's go." They nodded and Harry was the first to enter the classroom. He found his seat and soon felt Hermione sit down next to him; she gave him a smile, though no matter how hard Harry tried he could not return one of his own.

Hermione seemed so distant now, turning around every other second to wave, smile, blow a kiss, or all of the above, to Ron. Harry closed his eyes, finding sleep a good escape from the hell Hermione was putting him through. But just as he was about to fall asleep; a new voice entered his ears, one that didn't irritate him as much.

"Good morrow class." Harry opened his eyes to see the cloaked defence against the dark arts teacher; Professor Schmitz. The class then replied with their respective good afternoons and he smiled. "I trust everyone has found a partner without much difficulty?" Nods replied this and his smile broadened. "Very good… very good indeed, now then… how should I do this? Ah, please arrange yourselves so that I can tell which group you are in. Please stand as well."

The class complied, anxiously getting together, Harry automatically went into a corner and waited for Hermione to stop wishing her boyfriend good luck.

"Ms. Granger," the voice of their Professor seemed to stop Hermione's constant bickering and she went silent, looking up at the tall teacher. "Am I to assume that Mr. Weasley is not your partner?"

"Yes… yes he's not my partner sir."

"Then please stand with your partner Ms. Granger." He said, nodding to her before turning around. Hermione walked over to Harry's corner, sadness hinting at every sound of her feet clicking against the stone ground. She then fell against the section of the wall next to Harry, looking quite crestfallen.

"No point in looking like that all day." Harry mumbled, not looking at his friend.

"What?" Hermione seemed to be day dreaming at that point, Harry chose not to answer her, instead, he chose to listen to their teacher's instructions.

"Now I shall hand each group a Portkey, do not worry, our headmaster has approved of this exercise, and you will be in safe grounds are the school, but you will not know where you are, we will have guards posted at every location, if you find yourself in trouble please take out the Portkey and light it with your wand." Harry accepted the kettle from their professor, absently playing with it with his two hands.

Chatter seemed to echo all around the class, everyone was clearly excited at this new form of an assignment and wanted to start it as quickly as possible. Their Professor then cleared his throat, gaining the attention of all of the students.

"This is what you could call a maze, puzzles of logic and spellcraft blocking your way throughout it. All you have to do is get as far into the maze as possible, you and your partner will be by yourselves, only using what knowledge the both of you possess.

"This course is just another way for me to find out where each of you stand in your studies, both in the real world and the school world. Good luck." With those two words said, hands made grabs for their respective Portkeys.

Harry turned his body so that he faced Hermione, holding out the kettle to her, and giving her another attempt at a smile, so grabbed on. Their hands brushing so slightly against each other, Harry didn't have time to comprehend the feeling, for the familiar pull of the Portkey grabbed at his body before he could recognize Hermione's feel.

"Hey, hey Harry you okay?" Hermione's voice made Harry open his eyes, blurry and distorted, he could barely see Hermione's outline.

"Y-yeah I'm fine." He said, rubbing his eyes and taking a piece of his shirt and rubbed it against both of the lenses on his glasses. "Any idea where we are?"

"Well… take a look for yourself." She extended her arms, indicating the entire room. Harry felt his gaze move around the majestic looking room, it reminded him slightly of the Great Hall. He could see the afternoon sky instead of the ceiling; all around him stars seemed to twinkle. Pillars erected from the ground, creating a slightly medieval atmosphere to the room, he felt his curious hands feel their way around one pillar, trying to soak in their feeling. He let go of it, curling his hand into a fist. He moved his gaze to Hermione, nodding to her.

"Let's get started shall we?" She nodded, following his lead. Harry felt himself drift toward the nearby doorway, reaching for the handle, he found it wouldn't open.

"Oh Harry." Hermione's voice came out of nowhere, Harry let go of the handle. "_Alohamora_!" A clicking sound came from the doorknob, Hermione then reached for it; opening it tentatively.

"Can't be too careful eh?" Harry said, smirking slightly, peering into the doorway. "Can't see anything, let's go." Harry entered the doorway, moving through the small corridor with appropriate speed to allow Hermione to fall in right behind him.

"Something's up ahead!" Harry noticed the other presence even before she had said this, just ahead was what looking like a great tiger but then, upon closer examination, Harry noticed that it was a…

"Sphinx! NOT ANOTHER ONE!" Harry yelled out, causing Hermione to chuckle.

"You've seen one of these before?"

"Yeah, during the maze in the Triwizard Tournament, I was lucky in solving its riddle." Harry said, moving a bit more cautiously this time, crouched slightly with his wand drawn.

"That's all they do?" Harry looked at Hermione with a questioning look. "I haven't read much about them!" Harry laughed at this.

"Sometimes you got to expect the unexpected Hermione, books can't give you everything you know." Harry replied, moving in front of the Sphinx.

"Ah, they told me to expect two people." The female Sphinx's voice was calm and relaxed. Harry even thought it quite comforting, hearing it made him feel relaxed all over, his mind closed and his thoughts no longer interrupting everything. "I will just have to make the riddle that much more difficult."

"Is that all you're going to do?" Hermione asked, a slight frightened tone echoing in her voice. "I mean… just ask us a riddle and then yo… you'll let us just… go?"

"Yes, that is all. Are you ready?" Harry nodded, looking at Hermione who seemed to be quite scared, though she nodded all the same. "Good." The Sphinx then shifted slightly on the spot, its tone changing entirely.

_I make you weak, at the worst of time; you'll sweat in my presence even as you grow cold. I dwell in the weak, but rarely in the brave, but without me, who could tell the difference?_

_What am I?_

The Sphinx then returned to its normal positioning, awaiting their response. Harry looked, expecting an answer to fall right out of Hermione's mouth, and indeed he was right.

"Fear," she mumbled. The Sphinx raised its eyebrows. "Fear!" She said more loudly and the Sphinx smiled widely. It shifted again, it's head turning to Harry. The tone changed again and Harry was quite surprised to hear another riddle come out of the half cat's mouth.

_You can have me, but cannot hold me; you will gain me slowly but lose me rather quickly. If treated with care I can be great but with carelessness, betrayal, and laziness I will break, causing despair all around._

_What am I?_

Harry started to piece the information together, knowing it was his turn at the riddle, he somehow knew that he would not have Hermione's assistance in this question.

"Can't hold it… has to be a feeling," Harry mumbled, seeing the nod from the Sphinx.

_"Yes, she's a nice one!" _Harry thought to himself, finding himself thankful for his usual lack of luck.

"Gain me slowly… lose slowly? Oh please repeat the riddle." She did so. "It's not lose slowly! Lose quickly! Er -… I'll get back to that… what was the next part?"

_If treated with care I can be great but with carelessness, betrayal, and laziness I will break, causing despair all around._

_What am I?_

The voice startled Harry, not expecting the Sphinx to answer his mutter. He thought about the feelings, carelessness, betrayal…

"Betrayal… what does betrayal destroy? Trust…! TRUST! TRUST THAT'S THE ANSWER!" The grin spread on the Sphinx's face and she nodded, stepping aside and illuminating a lit path beyond.

"Good job Harry!" Hermione said admiration clear on her expression. Harry didn't bother responding but chose to lead the way to the next passageway.

The next chamber was basically a mirrored version of the first room. Harry looked around for some difference and noticed there was a mirror in the middle of the room. Harry walked up to it, finding himself staring back at himself. The same messy jet black hair standing at every which way, the black shirt and blue jeans on, he also saw Hermione's reflection just behind his own.

"Looks like any other mirror doesn't it?" Harry asked Hermione without looking at her, he reclined his head slightly, looking over his shoulder at her.

"From here… yeah… yeah it looks that way." Hermione admitted, stepping forward about two feet towards Harry's position in front of the mirror. "But, like you said, first impressions aren't always good."

"When did I say that?" Harry turned his whole body to face her, forgetting about the mirror.

"I think it was when you saw my house for the first time." Hermione stated. "Now let's get back to the problem at hand." She pointed her pointer finger to the mirror and Harry felt a loud "oh," come out of his mouth.

He turned back to the mirror, pressing his palm against it. He looked carefully at his reflected self, wondering if anything was different. Hermione paced around the mirror, looking at the back side as well with a frown on her visage. Harry then stepped back from the mirror, heaving a sigh.

"This mirror…" he mumbled quietly. "It's something about this mirror."

"Yeah, I figured that much." Hermione said bluntly from beside him. She was staring, with a pronounced frown, at the mirror; her eyes squinted, trying to decipher some meaning from the reflected image.

"Maybe…" Harry paused when Hermione's face turned, quite suddenly, toward his own. "Maybe we've got to look for something different in the reflection."

"Yeah… yeah maybe," she replied, her face turning back to the mirror. "Look!" Harry followed her outstretched finger and saw, what looked like, a misaligned brick in the wall behind them. Harry whipped his body around, looking for the same stone brick but didn't see it anywhere, he frowned moving towards the wall and scraping at it. Then, as his hand passed over an ordinary looking brick, it shook. An unknown force pushing it into the wall; Harry didn't have enough time to cope with finding the switch before the ground started to shake, and a portion of the wall behind the mirror crumbled away.

Dust flying in every which way, Harry made his way to the newfound passageway. He coughed, finding the dust was climbing into his mouth.

"H-Her-Hermione?" Harry panted.

"Y-yeah, yeah I'm okay!" She called out from beyond the large dust cloud. Harry followed the voice, finding himself facing his friend with a broad smile on her face. "Good job again!"

"I wouldn't have noticed that brick if it weren't for you." Harry replied, shaking his two hands in an effort to indicate he didn't need the praise. "Let's move on, no point in wasting time here."

They did so, walking in silence with darting eyes on each expression. Harry suddenly noticed how little light was shinning in this passageway.

"_Lumos_," he mumbled, an eerie green light bursting out of the end of his extended wand. With the help of this added light, Harry noticed the two of them were standing at a fork. Two different paths branching out of the one they were standing on.

"Which way?" Hermione asked him, halting when she reached a spot about a foot away from Harry's right shoulder.

"Maybe we missed a signpost or something…" Harry said sadly, not wanting to backtrack.

"Let's split up, I'll take the left, you take the right." Hermione suggested, indicating each side of the fork as she said them in her suggestion.

"That's taking a real gamble you know…" The Boy-who-lived said worriedly.

"We'll probably meet up later on." The Witch stated.

"Just because you said so?" Harry countered with a wide grin and Hermione sighed heavily.

"What'd you suggest then?" She said frustrated.

"No, no I don't mind the splitting up id-"

"Then what're we waiting for!"

"Hermione… I'm sorry…" Harry said, looking quite crestfallen, Hermione sighed again.

"I should be apologizing Harry."

"No not at all, like I've said before…" Harry gave her a slight smile, the smile not reaching his cheeks. "We're all on the edge nowadays."

"Yeah… okay I'll go now. See you later." She said while walking towards the left passageway, raising a hand in a waving gesture. Harry felt his own right hand rise automatically to bid farewell to her as well. After his friend fell out of sight, Harry heaved a sigh; following the right path, no sounds other then his own footsteps echoing around the corridor.

The Boy-who-lived noticed, after around fifteen minutes, that with every few steps. He passed under an unlit torch… then another few steps and he would pass under a lit torch. It seemed to be a pattern that was repeated several times, with the amount of time Harry had been walking, these patterns seemed rather evident.

The only Potter alive this day then noticed he had just passed under another lit torch that meant another three minutes had passed since he was under the last unlit torch. Harry sighed, thinking he would rather have another riddle then walk under another hundred of these unlit and lit torches.

Then Harry felt a slight pain in the whole front of his body, he fell to the ground, slightly stunned. He rubbed his face, muttering curses under his breath while rising. It seemed that Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived had just walked into-

"A wall…" Harry said breathlessly. "I just walked into a wall." Upon closer examination, Harry noticed it was not a wall but in fact a doorway. Harry saw light seeping in at the bottom of the stone wall like door.

Something made Harry back away, shock evident on his face. A blur seemed to be passing around, in a circular pattern, the door. Harry found he couldn't follow the blur, for the speed on it was rather…

"Incredible…" Harry said breathlessly. The blur continued to move as quickly as ever while Harry stilled watched it's never ending progress with an awed expression. After a prolonged moment of this, Harry started to wonder what exactly this blur was.

"The doorknob!" Harry burst out suddenly, his eyes still effortlessly trying to follow the knob's progress. Harry then reached for it, grabbing it for a second before it moved on, hitting the back of his hand a second later on it's second pass.

Harry pulled his hand back, gripping it tightly; trying to shut out the pain. He grimaced but continued to watch the progress of the doorknob.

"I have to stop it somehow… wait… the Duration Jinx!" Harry smiled at this; he felt that he was actually getting smarter from solving all of these logical problems. He pulled out his wand, not feeling the pain in his hand any longer. "_Durane_!" Thinking hard of the doorknob slowly down, he saw it happened before his very eyes. The doorknob slowly became clearer, it's blurriness disappearing abruptly and it slowed to a stop.

Harry's smiled widened as he opened the door, and squinted to what lay behind the door. He saw his good friend Hermione Granger standing with a wide smile on her own visage.

"Got out on your own I see…" She observed, walking toward Harry and patting him on the back. "You okay?" She added when she saw Harry's smiling expression.

"Hm? Of course I'm okay." The Boy-who-lived answered, taking the lead toward the middle passage. "How was your problem?"

"Got this," she said, holding up what looked like a chess piece. "Did you find one as well?"

"Uh?" Harry looked in his right hand, there was his wand, he looked at his left hand, he opened his fist though nothing was inside. Harry then reached into his left pocket, feeling his hands close on something. He pulled it out with his empty left hand and found a Queen piece inside his pocket. "A Queen…" Harry said softly.

"I got a Knight." Hermione said in response. "They're probably used for the next problem." She placed the Knight piece in her own right pocket while looking up at Harry with a smiling expression.

"We're doing okay right?" Harry asked her tentatively.

"I think we are…" The Witch responded. "You lead?" Harry nodded and started to move his feet toward the opened passageway just up ahead, he distinctly heard the door he had just come from close with a snap. He felt Hermione jump behind him and shushed her while she nodded frantically.

"We keep moving forward, no matter what happens behind us…" Harry kept his gaze in front of him, never altering it. But even with this sudden alertness, he could not have been prepared for what lay ahead.

A sudden flash of bright light erupted from ahead of him, causing The Potter to cover his glasses with his right arm, hissing slightly he staggered backward.

"What's going on!" Hermione cried out from behind him.

"I-I don't know!" Harry answered her truthfully, the light kept coming at them relentlessly. Engulfing them entirely, Harry cried out in pain at the burning brightness and fell to the ground, his eyes burning.

The next thing Harry knew, he was staring up at two chocolate brown eyes and an unfamiliar tile pattern on the ceiling above them.

"Ah Harry you are awake." Harry recognized the voice of Aran Schmitz. He sat up; making Hermione duck away still crouched on the floor beside Harry. "I must apologize to you; I did not think the Apparation light would blind you this much."

"Ap-Apparation light?" Harry stuttered dumbly and Hermione quickly responded.

"Apparently we reached the end of the trail, stepping on a large tile on the ground that automatically Apparated us back to the classroom." She explained, drawing Harry's expression over to her.

"So we just Apparated for the first time?" She nodded slightly.

"I thought it necessary." Harry's face flew away from Hermione's and back to their defence against the dark arts teacher's face. "For you will be attending your Apparation tests this year."

"Oh, right." Harry said, wincing as he tried to rise. "Why… why do I feel so weak though?"

"Apparation takes a lot of concentration, with the both of you being not prepared; it took a large amount of energy out of the both of you. Fortunately, you were both in physical contact, so the combined power of the two of you allowed yourselves to Apparate without much difficulty." Aran explained, gesticulating slightly with every few words.

"Er – we were in…"

"Physical contact yes," Aran finished.

"I was holding on to you." Hermione stated, making Harry turn again to her brown eyes. "When you started hissing I…I thought V-Voldemort came…"

Harry noticed, with several blinks, that she looked quite crestfallen, with her face looking down toward the stone tiled floor. He trotted toward her, standing squarely in front of her and placing his two hands on her shoulders. She looked upward, both of their eyes meeting.

"I'm taking Occulmency lessons with Dumbledore, hopefully that'll keep that…" Hermione frowned when Harry cursed quite loudly. "…Out of my mind." Harry finished with a smile thrown in. Harry let go of his friend, thinking himself rather foolish for even going near the girlfriend of his best male friend. Harry stepped away, turning to his teacher.

"What were those Chess Pieces for?" Harry asked him, pulling out his own chess piece.

"Ah, those are for the next exercise I have planned for this class." Harry groaned slightly at this and heard Hermione giggle from behind him. "It is not until next week though. I sincerely hope that brings comfort to you." The teacher added with a slight grin.

Harry felt himself move over to his normal seat in the middle of the defence against the dark arts classroom. He plopped down onto it, exhausted beyond belief. He noticed Hermione coming over and sitting down next to him.

"We're the first group back." Hermione stated, neither friend looking at the other. "The rest of the classes today are cancelled, apparently Dumbledore put this test on the highest priority."

"That's good I suppose." The Boy-who-lived responded, having nothing else to say.

"H-Harry can I ask you a question?" Hermione asked him with a nervous tone.

"It sounded like you just did." Harry said turning to her with a slight grin.

"Oh you know what I mean H-"

"Yeah, yeah go ahead." DA's leader waved his left hand at her.

"Umm… do you mind my… my you…you know…" Hermione's face turned beet red.

"Your relationship with Ron?" She nodded, her mouth still opening and closing rapidly. "I can handle it."

"You sure?" Harry nodded. "You don't mind at all?" Harry shook his head obediently, wanting a change of subject. "Oh, thank you Harry!" She hugged him and then said something about using the lavatory facilities.

With Hermione gone, Harry found himself spinning the Queen Chess piece between the five fingers of his right hand, twirling it and memorising the features on the black chess piece. He noticed, in this time, that the Queen did not speak, which most Chess pieces in the Wizarding world did. Its mouth was closed and its stare unblinking.

"Fascinating aren't they?" Harry jumped slightly at the stern voice of the German member of the Order.

"What..? These Chess pieces?" Harry held his Queen up and the teacher nodded.

"It's fascinating how much power that piece holds, without looking that powerful at all." He pointed one long finger at it. "The Queen is the most powerful piece in Chess, without it; defeat seems evident. With it, power guides your hand. With the taking of that piece, so comes the immediate victory of the game.

"Chess is a complicated game Harry, no doubt you have played it on many occasions before this; and no doubt you have realized how difficult the game itself is. Chess is a game about skill and knowledge of your opponent and the pieces and their respective powers.

"I allowed you Harry to find that Queen, for you are possibly the most skilled and powerful Wizard to ever cross my path to this day. While your friend Ms. Granger, found the Knight. For the Knight is worthy of recognition, but it will not survive the battle with the Queen."

"P-Professor…" Harry said blankly and Aran Schmitz chuckled approvingly.

"You are at a loss as to why I am ranting about this no?" Harry nodded, causing Professor Schmitz to chuckle again. "Ah, to be young again."

The rest of the class soon filed in, Lavender and Parvati coming in last, though not far behind Neville and Ron; who were both shaking rather badly.

"The Sphinx took a stab at Neville when he got his riddle wrong." Ron explained as the two of them left the class. "Then when we finally got to the mirror part, Neville went berserk, saying his mother was in the mirror. No idea what's wrong with him…" he added shaking his head.

"Nothing's wrong with Neville, Ron." Hermione said coming in from behind them. Ron made a grab for her arm and she accepted it, tying their fingers together.

Harry turned away and kept walking, omitting there conversation which seemed to lead farther and farther away from the test they had just attended.

The test itself left a mark on Harry, staining him for life. He felt proud of himself, he solved the Sphinx's riddle at the beginning with relative ease, while most of his peers complained about their respective riddles.

"I got something like: bringing back the dead as though it were always gone, brings laughs and snorts…" Seamus Finnigan was complaining to Lavender Brown, who also seemed quite angry at the Sphinx's riddles.

"Oh that's easy." She said waving a hand to the taller boy. "I memorised mine: I swim, yet have no wings. I fear yet I have no eyes… wait that's wrong…" From these reminisces; Harry could easily tell both of the Gryffindors needed some help with their memorising skills.

_"Or lack thereof." _Harry thought with a slight smirk.

Harry found himself lying on his bed the next second, twiddling with the Queen Chess piece and wondering what exactly it was supposed to represent. Then Ron entered the dormitory, carrying a similar Chess piece, though he threw it onto his bedside table lazily, flopping down onto his bed.

"So what do you make of it?"

"Oh I thought it was okay, I got through all the pro-"

"No, not the test Harry, Hermione and me! What do make of us?"

"Uh?" Harry replied blankly, staring at Ron's cheerful expression. "Oh… didn't I say 'good one' or something like that?"

"Yeah… oh yeah you did." Ron fell silent, stretching on his bed. "She won't leave me alone either." The Weasley added.

"Oh really," Harry said sarcastically, surprised that Ron did not see his lack of interest in this topic.

"Yeah, keeps saying I should eat more, go to sleep sooner. Nagging stuff you know?" The one-way conversation went on for awhile, Harry quickly becoming quite bored of hearing how many locks Hermione has in her hair and what Ron would get her on every single birthday until she was the age of one hundred and fifty-two, it was then that he started to run out of ideas.

Harry quickly found an excuse when the bell rang to signal dinner, he departed from the dorm, saying that Ron should come too but he said he was going to go meet Hermione in the common room. Apparently he was right, for Hermione was waiting, looking quite anxious, in front of the portrait hole.

"Oh, Harry have yo-"

"He's in the dorm." Harry answered her unsaid question. "He's coming about… now." As soon as Harry said "now", Ron came down the steps, embracing Hermione.

Though Harry saw none of this, for he was walking down the winding staircase towards the Great Hall; trying effortlessly to avoid his two friends for as long as possible. The Potter had to escape the unsettling feeling that seem to be going berserk every time he witness an affectionate moment between his two friends.

The Boy-who-lived continued to argue with his Voldemort-possessed mind about their relationship, he continued to tell himself that he was fine with their love. But could it be that Harry did not find that same love yet even _though _he was the saviour of the world thirteen years ago?

_"Hopefully I've be saving the world again pretty soon…" _Harry thought to himself as he opened the door to the entrance hall, holding it open for the small girl behind him. She mumbled her thanks, continuing on until she noticed who Harry truly was.

"H-Harry!" Harry frowned and turned around to the small girl. He recognized her a second later, his frown changing into a wide smile.

"Eleanor!" He crouched down so his eyes met those of the smaller girl's. "How've you been doing?"

"O-okay I suppose." She said, looking down at the floor while starting to walk off. Harry straightened his body, falling into pace beside the young girl.

"You're not in Gryffindor are you?" Harry asked her, observing her robes with a frown.

"Ravenclaw…" Eleanor said quite sadly. "I-I haven't got any fri-friends yet."

"It's only the third day Eleanor, cheer up, there's a whole bunch of good people out there waiting for you!" Harry said, smiling as wide as possible while patting her on the shoulder. She smiled up at him, tears coming from her eyes.

_"I forgot how sensitive little children are…" _Harry thought to himself, sadness echoing eerily in his head as Eleanor wiped her eyes with the back of her right sleeve.

"T-Thanks Har-Harry…" she stuttered.

"Don't mention it Eleanor, by the way…" Harry stopped her with a pressed hand to her shoulder. He crouched down, looking at both of the sides of the corridor then whispered. "The password for the Gryffindor common room is Eternal, remember that alright? If you ever need someone to talk to, one of us is bound to be there."

"Thanks Harry… t-thank you so….so much." Eleanor looked quite thankful as well, tears now streamed from her two eyes rather willingly while she gripped Harry tightly.

"Oh… Eleanor… that hurts," Harry faked a wince while she giggled and back away. "Have you been talking to Luna?"

"So…sometimes," the first year Ravenclaw answered with a wipe at her eyes.

"She's a nice person, talk with her as well. Any of us will listen to what you have to say."

"T…thank you Harry…" Eleanor suddenly looked away from Harry, causing Harry's head to turn as well to face his rival. The Sytherin Malfoy.

"Oh looks like Potty's got a girlfriend now. Call the _Daily Prophet _Goyle, Potty's ditched Granger." The two large cronies sniggered dumbly, looking quite idiotic with their mouths wide open and their yellow teeth sparkling. Harry took a defensive stance and held out his arm in front of Eleanor.

"Leave Malfoy," Harry snarled, a face of pure anger facing Draco Malfoy.

"What if I don't want to… what if I _accidentally _kill your little girlfriend here?"

"Like you could Malfoy, you'd probably go cry to your _father _for needing assistance with pulling your wand out and not backfiring it at yourself." Harry countered, throwing a smirk his way.

"Why you – you die _NOW POTTER_!" He whipped out his wand, Goyle and Crabbe doing the same. Harry did not feel threatened or outnumbered, for Goyle and Crabbe were probably the densest people in the entire school.

_"They'd have trouble shooting sparks at me anyway." _Harry thought to himself, pushing Eleanor away and muttering to her. "Run when I pull out my wand okay?" She nodded, fear evident on her expression. Harry's wand came out with a snap, Eleanor dashing away while Malfoy and his minions advanced.

"_EXPELLIARMUS_!" Harry cried out, aiming for Malfoy but somehow hitting Goyle. While Goyle fumbled around, looking for his wand, Crabbe did the smart thing and threw his wand directly at Harry. For Crabbe knew that he himself did not know any sort of spell that would damage the Boy-who-lived.

Harry performed a shield charm, sending Crabbe's wand spinning away toward the wall beside them. Now that Harry was vulnerable, Malfoy chose to strike.

"_AVADA KEDAVRA_!" The killing curse took Harry by surprise, he thought Malfoy would not have enough guts to use any spell of that magnitude in a Dumbledore-controlled area. Harry ducked, yelling for Eleanor to duck it as well. Harry noticed she obliged, the nasty green spell spilling against the wall in front of her.

"_REDUCTO_!" True the spell was aimed pretty badly for Harry was crouched and looking the other way at that time, but it was still just as effective. The wall beside Malfoy exploded quite loudly, stone bricks crashing into every Slytherin in the corridor. Harry muttered the commonly used repairing charm to return the stone blocks back to their respective places on the wall. Malfoy rose from the ground, spitting on the twisted blood red carpet.

"You die Potter." He stated simply.

"If you actually meant that every time you've said it thus far in your stupidly pathetic life, I would be dead three times over." Harry said, giving into the urge to jinx the Death Eater right there with a nice jelly legs jinx. Watching with a grin, he motioned to Eleanor that the coast was clear.

"_AVADA KEDAVRA_!" The spell took Harry off-guard, for he hadn't noticed that Goyle was still conscious. The spell was not aimed for Harry, but for Eleanor.

"DAMNIT!" Harry jumped in the way of the curse, yelling to Eleanor to run away just before the curse pierced his chest.

Harry felt pain throughout his entire body, the muscles in his entire skeleton ripping apart ceaselessly while his nerves all throughout his body cried out with malice. Harry shut his eyes, falling to the ground and thinking how foolish he was for wasting his pathetic life on a first year girl.


	10. Chapter 9: Cry of a Restless Soul

Cry of a Restless Soul

Summary:

I've made a couple of changes around this tale, adding a sort monologue at the beginning of very "part" of this story. This chapter will be the last one for Part one: Lost Horizon. This chapter contains some fight scenes in it, but they're amatuerish compared to the last chapter in my opinion. I actually didn't like this chapter very much, but I rushed it so this is what I get for it... please enjoy!

Chapter 9:

Cry of a Restless Soul

The familiar shinning rays of sunlight seeped through the also familiar stain glassed windows around the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts. Harry Potter moaned painfully from his reserved bed in the Hospital Wing. He stretched, rising and rubbing his eyes with the back of his right sleeve.

"You're awake I see." Harry was startled at the voice of his headmaster who seemed to be standing on Harry's right side.

"P-professor?" The wounded boy stuttered.

"You have made a speedy recovery from being hit by the malevolent killing curse again. Though this is not expected, it is very welcome." Harry thought a smile appeared on the face of his headmaster, but his line of sight was rather limited at this point, he reached for his glasses on the bedside table, putting them on and savouring the feeling of sight again.

"H-how did I sur…su…"

"Survive?" Dumbledore supplied and Harry nodded. "I have a theory, but that is it. This theory is that your good mind friend, Voldemort, took the blow."

"What!" Harry exclaimed and Dumbledore chuckled.

"Yes indeed, can you feel anything in your mind? You have felt Voldemort's presence before have you not?" Harry nodded and raked his mind for any sort of thought that didn't belong there.

Harry was able to tell if Voldemort was currently nesting inside his mind if different feelings sprouted out of nowhere inside of his mind, greed, evil, savagery, and other sorts of emotions that Harry never felt before. He smiled when he could not find anything and looked back to Dumbledore.

"Yeah he's gone." Harry said, relieved beyond belief.

"Very good, this is only temporary of course." The Boy-who-lived groaned slightly at this and Dumbledore chuckled.

"Because Voldemort didn't take the killing curse himself?"

"Partly Harry, Voldemort was inside your mind at the time when your good friend Goyle shot his killing curse at Ms. Reynolds. I suspect that Voldemort, as cowardly as ever, retreated from your mind as soon as he saw the danger.

"Most likely, Voldemort took the full brunt of the killing curse, owing to the fact that he has inhabited your mind for a lengthy duration now, leaving a large portion of himself there." He explained and Harry felt himself lie down again, sighing slightly.

"Who's Ms. Reynols?" Harry asked him, not remembering the name.

"Ms. Reynolds? Ah, you know her as Eleanor."

"Oh," Harry didn't have anything else in mind; he honestly wanted to be alone at this moment. Harry closed his eyes, trying to send the hint to the elderly Wizard, but he continued on.

"You have been unconscious for only a day Harry." He stated calmly. "I hope that comforts to you rather then despair." Harry replied with nothing, rather choosing to stare at the ceiling above.

"Now I have a question for you young Harry." Harry opened one eye at this, not knowing what to answer with. "You have, in your possession, a stone of great power yes?" The dismissive Boy-who-lived sat up at this, rapt with attention.

"The Stone of the Damned? You know something about it?" Harry spoke quickly, allowing Dumbledore to hold up a hand to silence him.

"Yes, I doubt though whether I know more about it then your good friend Hermione." Dumbledore smiled, making Harry's attention fall away. He sunk down onto his bed, wanting to be left alone again. "The Stone is dark indeed, inside it holds the restless souls of the murdered. Released, these souls can damage humanity ultimately.

"Have you not thought about why Voldemort has been so persistent in taking total control of your body Harry?"

"He wanted me to join the Death Eaters didn't he? This could just be another way to gain the upper hand…"

"Yes indeed Harry, but Voldemort is no fool." Dumbledore shook his head, the smiling expression now gone to be replaced with a slight frown. "Voldemort recognizes your power Harry; he is merely trying to find out where the stone is kept."

"He would have figured that out b-"

"Yes Harry, that was Mr. Malfoy's purpose when you, luckily, intercepted him earlier yesterday." Harry raised his eyebrows at this acquisition. "I have been… monitoring the Death Eater for quite awhile and have found, with relative ease, his method of contacting his father."

"Which is…?" Harry said quite impatiently after a moment of utter silence.

"Owls," Dumbledore stated simply and Harry snorted. He knew Goyle and Crabbe were rather dense but Malfoy had _some _intelligence did he not? "I thought it was rather simple. You know of the saying, 'too easy', do you not?" Harry nodded.

"It's a Muggle saying isn't it?"

"Yes that is correct, but that is not the point. I was thinking that as I monitored the letter conversations, which usually had Mr. Malfoy scolded his son on his cockiness and had various insults driven towards me." He said calmly and Harry felt a smile creep up on his face.

"Voldemort wishes for that Stone, not to unleash it unto the World Harry." He added seeing Harry's eyes roll.

"Oh really?" Harry said sarcastically and the smile returned to Dumbledore's face.

"Yes, Voldemort wishes to consume all of the restless souls, for he feeds on anger and fear, just as you learned during your summer holiday, though he does not know that the Stone empties all its souls for the next master.

"The Stone was emptied when young Fred Weasley accepted it from the previous owner of the land." Harry frowned again at this statement.

"You knew him?" Dumbledore chuckled when Harry had finished speaking his question.

"I wish I did Harry, he was very selective with his customers, not putting any advertisements at all and not welcoming any customers who were merely browsing."

"How would he earn money then?" Harry asked, shaking his head slightly.

"I sent Order members to monitor him, but it seems I was foiled; for he had given the Stone to Mr. Weasley as soon as any Order members arrived to investigate, we have no description of him and no idea where he might be." Dumbledore looked down at the tiled floor, looking quite tired.

"P-Professor," the elderly headmaster's head moved upward to link with Harry's eyes. "D-do you think he was a Death Eater?"

"No Harry I do not, he was no enemy but he was no ally either. The man who used to run the shop called 'Keeper's' was a neutral character. His opinion was on neither side of this growing conflict, and did not want to get involved. When he heard of my orders to monitor him, he did what he thought was right and sold the store.

"He has disappeared now, seemingly gone from the world. But we have gone too far in this topic Harry." The Boy-who-lived saw, out of the corner of his eye, Madam Pomfrey trotting towards them. Harry took the hint, and nodded. "We shall speak further at a different time, please come by my office as soon as you are able too; the password remains the same."

Harry watched as Dumbledore walked away, his footsteps not uttering a sound as he calmly whistled while staring at the stone bricked walls that aligned themselves around the Hospital Wing.

"So you're up then?" Harry's gaze moved from the retreating back of Albus Dumbledore, to the snotty looking face of Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse.

"Apparently," Harry replied looking away from the older woman.

"Oh someone's in a bad mood today. Luckily you seem to be in good enough shape to leave." She said as she looked over Harry's temperature. She placed her hand on Harry's chest, feeling his breathing and then nodded.

"So can I leave?"

"Yes, yes go ahead. You didn't even have to come here; you've got some luck really. Hit by the killing curse and nothing happening to you… children these days!" She added with a mutter, as she walked away; Harry got dressed and left the Hospital wing far behind him.

Harry rushed to Gryffindor Tower at full speed, edging past other students with relative ease, until he turned a corner at the third floor. He bumped into an adult, sending him and the adult crashing to the ground.

"Oh Merlin sorry… Harry?" Harry opened his eyes and rose from the ground to see Ludo Bagman rubbing his head. "Oh Harry boy! That _is _you!"

"Er… hello Mr. Bagman…" Harry mumbled rising. "Sorry about that…" he added, seeing Bagman wince as he rose. Though, to his surprise, Bagman flashed him a wide smile.

"Not to worry dear boy, I was in a somewhat rush too. Oh, you are Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor are you not?"

"Uh?" Harry said looking up from the ground. "Oh yeah… yeah I am."

"If you want, I could get you a good time for your first practice." Bagman whispered, chucking another wide grin in with it to make the classic Bagman combo.

"Er – I've already scheduled the first practice for Saturday."

"You have?" The grin disappearing on Bagman's face. "I thought the Ravenclaw team had that spot… are you sure Harry?"

"Oh right." Harry immediately remembered about the book McGonagall was talking about earlier. "I haven't signed the book yet!"

"Harry, Harry dear boy, I could still get you a good spot on Saturday still…" Bagman's grin returned, as white as ever and Harry sighed.

"Yes… yes that would be appreciated." Harry said guilt flooding into him like water down a river, though Bagman didn't seem that guilty right now.

"Oh good, good choice Harry, I'll just tell Minerva that you're too busy at the moment to sign the book so I will instead. Good work Harry, now I must be off." He said this rather speedily, dashing off the next second with the sound of whistling echoing in his wake.

Harry shook his head with a sigh and mirrored Bagman's dash toward Gryffindor Tower. He entered the portrait hole, muttering the password to the Fat Lady before doing so, and then saw Hermione sitting by herself, reading a textbook though Harry couldn't exactly see what it was; he just naturally assumed it was a textbook.

She looked up at his entrance, a slight smile appearing on her expression. She waved, her book now closed on the table in front of her. Harry plopped down beside her, sighing again.

"You're okay then." She observed and Harry snorted.

"If I weren't I would be dead right?" She laughed nodding all the same. Harry looked around for her boyfriend, wanting to tell them both what Dumbledore had just told him.

"Ron's in class right now." Hermione told him, answering his unsaid question. "I'm on my break, McGonagall told me this morning that you don't have to attend classes today if you don't want to."

"Eh, what could I do if I wasn't in class?" Harry yawned after saying this, picking up the book Hermione was reading before Harry entered the common room. "_Advanced Potions Theory, exclusive addition of various chemical theories_, so this is the N.E.W.T Potions textbook eh?" She nodded at this.

"You're lucky you aren't in Potions anymore. Everything's change dramatically…"

"I consider myself intelligent for not taking another course with that slime ball." Harry said, tossing the book into the seat next to him.

"That _slime ball _has also saved your life before." Hermione stated calmly.

"He's probably got his own objectives." The Boy-who-lived countered, knowing yet again that Hermione was right.

"Of course he has his own objectives Harry." The boy in question looked up at this comment, one eyebrow raised. "Snape has been claimed a Death Eater and is a spy for our side, he's got other problems besides marking and teaching you know."

"Hey Hermione," Harry said suddenly, expanding on something Ron said a while ago. "What if Snape's actually spying on ou-"

"He isn't." Hermione stated firmly, frowning slightly. "If he was why would he try so hard to keep you safe?"

"Maybe he's letting Voldemort get the final kill…?" Harry mumbled, looking away from Hermione and into the fire. Hermione was silent after this, also contemplating.

"Snape may be strict Harry." She said suddenly after a few moments of silence, drawing Harry's attention again. "But he has a good heart; he knows what the Death Eaters are like."

"But he loves the dark arts Hermione!" Harry countered again. "Everything about him points to the Death Eaters!"

"Harr-" before he knew it, the Boy-who-lived was standing, startling the nearby Crookshanks, causing the orange cat to hiss violently.

"NO HERMIONE, YOU DIDN'T SEE _HIM _COME BACK! YOU HAVE _NO _IDEA WHAT THEY'RE LIKE!" Harry felt his mouth open and close several times; he saw Hermione sitting quite still and calm, watching him with mild interest. Harry sighed, sitting down beside her again. "I'm sorry."

"You have no need to apologize Harry." He looked up again, an astonished expression on his face. "No one in this school has _any _idea what you're going through. Not only are you in constant danger, but you're entering your adult years. Your mind is starting to think of g-"

"ALRIGHT HERMIONE!" Harry stopped her, causing her to laugh. "I don't need you to be my mum!" Harry said a smiling crawling onto his face. Then at that moment, Harry felt his heart stop, his eyes were locked with those of Hermione's. Glinting with glee, her smiling expression started to drawn him in, causing him to feel slightly queasy, he dropped his hands, Hermione looking quite lost and Harry knew his expression mirrored hers.

Then Harry barely noticed something behind Hermione, he lifted a finger, pointing to the window behind her. She turned around to look at what Harry was indicating, breaking the moment between them, Harry shook his head, feeling the odd feeling inside of him lift quite suddenly.

Harry's snowy owl was banging on the window across from Harry; he stood up and opened the window for Hedwig to enter. She landed on the table in front of Hermione, lifting her leg out for her. The Witch looked up at Harry; he nodded thinking that she was asking for permission.

The girl tentatively took the letter, the white owl hooting softly then taking off to its owner's shoulder, where Harry absently rubbed his hand along the magnificent wings of the owl.

DA's leader waited patiently as his best friend read and reread the letter repeatedly. She looked up at Harry with a grim facial expression.

"Hagrid wants to speak with me." She answered Harry's thoughts as to what the letter was about. "It's about Grawp."

"Oh no," Harry blurted out and Hermione grinned at this.

"Oh no is right," The Witch repeated. "He wants us to come check on him."

"Us being…?"

"You, Ron, and I," Hermione said, looking away from Harry with a frown on her face. Harry gave Hedwig a little shake, waking her from her slumber and she looked at him with beady, blurry, eyes and Harry nodded. He watched as she flew out the open door and soared blissfully through the empty air; he shut the window just as she flew out of view and turned back to Hermione, setting himself down beside her again.

"You didn't take Care of Magical Creatures did you?" Harry asked abruptly and Hermione nodded.

"It was just…"

"Too dangerous?" Harry supplied and she nodded. "I didn't either, I was actually getting quite tired of cleaning up everything and having to live through Malfoy's complains constantly." She nodded at this addition.

"We're going to go see him right?" Hermione asked him, a fearful look on her face, Harry nodded, placing his own right hand on her left shoulder.

"He's still our friend isn't he?" She nodded. "He'll be sad that we haven't taken it again, but he'll accept it, don't worry. We're still his friends, and that'll be enough for him." Harry lifted his hand, rising from the loveseat. Hermione Granger soon followed, brushing her robes.

"S-shouldn't we wait for… Ron?" Hermione said, not bothering to hide her nervous manner. Harry laughed openly at this.

"Would Ron _honestly _be _any _help?" The Boy-who-lived said with another laugh and the corners or Hermione's mouth twitched. But, the next second they were gone, as if never there.

"Don't talk about Ron like that." She said sternly. "He's a strong man."

"Oh a _strong _man is he? You'll probably change that to a _fast _man when he starts to run from Grawp. Now come on." Hermione laughed at Harry's joke, but both of them knew he went slightly out of line there. Ron was indeed a strong man, both with willpower and in the physical realm, and the two of them knew that.

Harry now felt guilt flood into him easily, Ron was also rather sensitive, jealousy raked at Ron's mind. Since he was the best friend of, most likely, the most famous Wizard at this time; he was always shunned to the side while Harry soaked up everything.

Harry pushed these thoughts about Ron to the back of his mind as he entered the entrance hall of Hogwarts, he could barely hear Hermione talking about her coming Ancient Runes test, but shushed her all the same. He stopped her walking with an outstretched hand to her stomach region, he heard her say something unrecognizable, but Harry deciphered the meaning all the same.

"What?" That is what the unknown sound translated to in Harry's mind; he pushed her back, out of view of the entire hallway. Harry crouched down, Hermione following suit after seeing what Harry was acting alert all of a sudden for.

In front of the front door to the school was a Death Eater. Harry squinted to see the familiar smug expression of Lucius Malfoy, the father of Draco Malfoy; Harry's ultimate rival. He also saw Dumbledore, calmly gesticulating to the taller man while Malfoy nodded inconsistently, looking rather bored.

"Let's get closer." Harry whispered to her, moving along; still crouched, beside the banister. He made sure he was hidden, and heard Hermione stop beside him. Harry had to block all of his thoughts, and concentrate only on hearing the two people talking to understand what they were saying.

"…on committed an unforgivable crime Mr. Malfoy. The usage of this curse is beyond any punishment I can offer within these walls. Other then total exile from the school," Harry could not see anything from where he was sitting, but he knew enough about each person talking to know what was going on.

"No excuse I give can undo what my son has done. But know this Dumbledore; he used that curse, just as so many people have done before him, for a purpose. And just as you are here teaching, my son wanted to end the life of someone who didn't deserve to live. This, Ms. Reynolds, I hope dearly that she is in fair condition, but my son used his logic, and tried to deal with this… girl his own way."

"Death comes swiftly Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore continued with the same tone. Harry couldn't help but notice how odd it was for these two people talking so casually together. "But death should never be dealt out by anyone; ending life is an unforgivable crime. Surely even one such as you realizes that!"

"Something you cannot comprehend Dumbledore, is power. The weak cannot control it, but the strong can, that is where we go separate ways Dumbledore. You let the weak come here and study, trying effortlessly to find that inner power but you do not understand that some people _don't _have it. You cannot teach power Dumbledore, you cannot simply give it to someone, it is born with you.

"With all your Muggle-born students moving around here, stinking up the place, the weakness is spreading, less power to find anywhere. My son, who no doubt is very powerful himself, was merely ridding the world of yet another weakling. Now then, if you want to remove my son from this school I shall accept, and take my son right now." Harry felt his hands curl into fists, hating this speech with every bit of him. He was about to rise, deciding mutely which curse he should perform on the adult, before Hermione placed her hand, quite gently, on Harry's shoulder; breathing deeply, he sat back down, and strained his ears again to listen to the conversation.

"I have been criticized by more powerful people then yourself Mr. Malfoy, and have even felt insulted by some of them. But you were not insulting me in that little... speech if you will. You were insulting fellow humans, using discrimination for your own… explanations. That is rather pitiful Lucius, _you _are pitiful."

"Why you, _COME_!" Harry stood up to see Death Eaters entering the school from every angle possible, all cloaked in black and their wands drawn and pointed at Dumbledore.

"Kill me if you will." Dumbledore said quite calmly for someone who had… maybe ten wands pointed directly at him.

"Y-yes, let's kill him Lucius!" Harry didn't recognize the voice but knew it was a new Death Eater, maybe even a student at this very school.

"Let me rip his guts apart!" Hermione gasped at this voice, Harry knew it too. Macnair, the supposed executor of Buckbeak, Harry was surprised that when he thought of this; Hagrid entered the front door at that very moment, halting his hum of an unfamiliar tune as he saw the circle of Death Eaters.

The elder Malfoy cursed quite loudly, trying to rush away from the half-giant as quickly as possibly. Unfortunately for Lucius Malfoy; Hagrid had a large sack of seeds over his shoulder. The half-giant threw it with all his force, hitting another Death Eater in the face while on the way to its target. Because of the slight interruption, the sack didn't truly damage Lucius, but it immobilised him as he fell to the ground with it on top of him.

Curses flew across the entrance hall immediately; Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen from where Harry and Hermione were perched. Hagrid picked up a Death Eater but the neck and tossed him unceremoniously to another Death Eater, who tried to scramble away but was crushed to the ground by the weight of Macnair.

Hagrid then jumped on top of the two bodies, crushing both of them into the ground, with screams of pains echoing around the entrance hall. Hagrid rose, stunning spells hitting him from every angle.

"KILL HIM!" Lucius suddenly screamed, and Harry rose from the ground. Rushing down the stairs, stunning an unsuspecting Death Eater who had his back turned to Harry, the other was now alert of Harry's presence and was about to use a curse on him when he fell to the ground, stupefied. Harry didn't need to turn to see Hermione's smile and her wand pointed at the spot where the Death Eater was previously standing. Harry rushed forward, stunning another Death Eater while blocking an unknown spell that was directed at him.

"Potter's here! HE'S HERE!" Someone cried out, Harry found the Death Eater; who was currently yelling randomly. Harry smirked, adrenaline streaming through him with relative ease.

"_DURANE_!" The spell hit the Death Eater, speeding him up superbly; his yells were now rather… unrecognizable. Sounding like slurs of multiple words, he grabbed his mouth, horror struck. Harry didn't recognize the face of the Death Eater, but he knew that it was a Death Eater nonetheless.

Harry didn't see the transaction of the various facial expressions on this unknown Death Eater though, for now he was duelling with Lucius Malfoy, who seemed to be quite injured from the attack of the sack.

"My Master shall reward me well for killing you Potter!" He hissed with a wide smile. Shooting a non-verbal spell at Harry while he blocked it with a simple shield charm.

"_STUPEFY_!" The stunning spell was not aimed for Harry Potter, but rather at Lucius Malfoy, Harry turned to see Ron and several other DA members charging while shooting multiple spells at multiple Death Eaters. Harry smiled at his best friend, who nodded back to him.

Harry saw Ernie Macmillion use the Duration Jinx on the same Death Eater Harry had just Jinxed, causing him to slow down to normal speed. Ernie then stunned him, making him fall to the ground unconscious. One by one all of the Death Eaters fell to the ground, stunned or petrified and cheers erupted from every corner of the grand entrance hall.

"You're going down Potter!" Harry looked over to the Dungeon entrance to see the younger, naïve, Draco Malfoy looking daggers at him. Harry smirked, raising his wand, he noticed Hermione raise her own as well but he stopped her with the raise of his left hand; showing her that he wanted to go solo here.

"I'm going down then?" Harry repeated; the smirk now blossomed fully on his expression.

"SEVERUS! COME!" The Boy-who-lived's heart skipped a beat, the billowing cloak of Severus Snape appearing at the dungeon entrance. "Deal with him!" Snape said nothing, but raised his wand and pointed it to his old student.

Harry stood, quite frightened, for he knew that Snape was obsessed with the Dark Arts and it seemed Snape did not have full control of himself. Harry frowned, crouching down, alertness on his face.

Snape waved his wand speedily, a blur appearing where his hands used to be, moving along in a complex formation that no eye could follow, it ended abruptly, a crashing sound echoing quite loudly in Harry's ears.

Harry was pushed backward, flying upward from the non-verbal, he had no idea what Snape had just hit him with, but Harry fell on the floor above the entrance hall. Harry kicked upwards, using his feet as a boast to stand up. He noticed astonished expressions from all around, teacher and student alike, watching with awe.

Harry sent a stunner towards the following Snape; he blocked it with ease, walking on with a blank look on his pale face. Harry was now fearful, not knowing what to do he moved backward, sending every spell he could think of at the advancing Snape. Harry shot the Duration Jinx at Snape, thinking of slowing him down to a total stop but he blocked it. Harry then found himself in a stairway, running up the stairs, Snape hot on his pursuit, he abandoned all home of victory against the Dark Arts user.

"Severus! End this nonsense!" Harry was relieved at this familiar voice, the voice of Aran Schmitz, his hood lowered and his wand drawn. There he was standing just a level above him. "Potter, go, let me deal with this vermin!" Schmitz spit and Harry nodded; running behind him while Aran took a defensive stance

Harry stayed on the spot, watching with awe as the two Wizards duelled together, one seemingly possessed while the other seemed to be normal enough. Aran leapt backward suddenly, grabbing Harry and tossing him unceremoniously down the fourth floor corridor they were on. Though Snape did not seem to bother with Aran's presence, but he turned and started to walk toward Harry.

"Run Potter! _REDUCTO_!" A pillar near the towering Severus Snape fell on top of him, Harry was slightly reminded of his duel with Malfoy and his two cronies where he used the exact same tactic, though it proved to be less effective here, for with a flick of two fingers, the pillar disintegrated entirely, particles of dust floating down to the ground noiselessly and harmlessly.

Harry didn't waste time reminiscing this failed manoeuvre, but rather dashed off toward safety. Harry felt his feet dash him off up and up while Aran effortlessly tried to stall Snape's charge. Then Harry saw his form of salvation, the Fat Lady's portrait, apparently his legs were moving him towards Gryffindor tower, yelling the password at her, he leapt inside of the common room.

Panting, Harry walked over to the open window and leaned on the wall next to it. Then suddenly, Harry heard a scream and then dust and sot erupted from the wall opposite of Harry, making him fall to the ground and cover his eyes.

Coughing repeatedly, Harry rose to face Severus Snape again, the wall separating the Gryffindor common room and the rest of the school gone entirely. Harry gaped at him, wondering why Snape wanted to kill Harry so much. Though when he raised his wand, Harry thought it unwise to stand still gaping at him, and ran the nearby stairs towards his dormitory.

Curious Gryffindors poked their heads out their respective doors, no doubt wondering what the cause of the explosion was. Harry rushed past them towards the sixth year dorm, opening the door and seeing it totally empty; he rushed to his trunk, opening it and trying to find something useful for defeating this seemingly invulnerable foe.

Harry then felt his gaze move to the Stone of the Damned, omitting everything else. Harry lifted it with both his hands, opening the satchel with one hand and dropping the stone into his other hand. Gazing at the perfection of the rune like stone, Harry noticed for the first time the eerily green light that seemed to surround the stone.

Then the crash of Harry's door came, drawing his thoughts away from that of the stone's. He watched Snape walk in; Harry glanced at the stone in his sweaty grip and tossed it at him, running out of ideas.

The stone flew with grace it seemed, for everything seemed to have slowed down abruptly, the stone never made contact with Snape but it stopped in mid air, as if held by a string of some kind. Dangling slightly, it lay suspended in mid air. Snape paid no attention to the stalled stone and raised his wand and pointed it at Harry, about to utter the dreaded killing curse no doubt.

The words never left the mouth of Severus Snape, for a cry erupted from the suspended stone, making his hands fall onto his ears, trying effortlessly to stop the high pitched cry that seemed to deafen his hearing. Harry had no trouble adapting to the screech, he looked at the stone, and it glowed its same eerie green colour but shone brighter, a face appearing out of the stone, soon shaping into a body.

Harry was reminded of the encounter with Prior Incanteum back at the end of his fourth year, in which he saw the ghosts of Voldemort's latest victims rise from seemingly thin air. He saw the ghost like being float in mid air, his or her mouth open wide.

Harry had no idea what the gender of the ghost creature was, for it had ragged robes on, it's skull was visible through rotten and sliced flesh though it had no pupils or any facial features at all. The Potions professor was now on the ground, looking unconscious, the ghost turned to Harry, speaking in his mind.

_"One," _it stated simply, then with a resounding crack, it disappeared, the stone floating back to Harry's outstretched hand.


	11. Part 2: Winter's Sun

Summary:

Part Two's Monologue, centred around fear. I felt that it had a lot of depth in it, so please! PLEASE read it, I'm trying to send a meaning out with this fic!

Disclaimer:

I'm putting a new part into the disclaimer, I know I should just copy and paste the old one and add this to that or whatever… but I'm, as most people say, too damn lazy. Anyway, I do not own, or plan to make profit off of, these Part/Chapter names. Part one was all Lost Horizon, by far my favourite Power Metal band (look em' up if you have the chance! You'll have to look REALLY hard though note this is not intended to be subliminal advertising, it is merely a recommendation). Part Two is called Winter's Sun, which is taken off of Wintersun, my favourite Melodic Death Metal Band (like Lost Horizon I REALLY recommend them), the chapter names also are taken from Wintersun. Yet again I do not own the characters except for Eleanor Reynolds and Aran Schmitz, and they will both be used in other fics ONLY with MY permission, I do not plan to make profit with this tale or with the chapter names.

Part Two:

Winter's Sun

_Fear._

_Every language in the world has a word for fear, or at least to my knowledge. No one can ignore it, for it dwells in even the bravest of creatures, with the solving of the Sphinx's riddle: Hermione learned that fear can grip at anyone or anything. As I taught my fellow peers in the DA lessons, I did not focus on entirely spellcraft, but I also taught them how to recognize emotions, fear, sorrow, happiness, and so forth. Many thought it quite useless, of course those people left soon after, though I kept going, portraying my beliefs to them, telling them you can't win a duel with just spewing random spells at them like in a classroom, you have to get them on the defensive, let them make the first mistake._

_Fear can be manipulated and turned against the enemy, it is a disgusting emotion yes, but sometimes one has to turn the weapon against the enemy, letting them fear for their life just to make the job that much easier. As I made my way through the many years at Hogwarts, I learnt more then spells but how to manipulate the Death Eaters greatest weakness, their pride._

_The pride of those Death Eaters allowed me to let them feel fear for once, telling them they were _not _Voldemort's greatest supporter, telling them they made a mistake coming to me, for their master did not wish them to kill me. It sounds rather simple indeed, and it is as simple as it sounds. No doubt my weakness is that simple as well, for when the weakness is revealed, fear is created. Fear for their life, fear from the wrath of their opponent, fear for their friends, this simple word can make people shiver and sweat._

_I have lived in fear before; I feared Voldemort would evoke his wrath upon my greatest friends and indeed he did once. Back when I was the age of one, Voldemort took my parents away with the uttering of one single spell, though apparently I am rather… immune to the fear that the Death Eater's expel. Fear grips at everything it can get to, even something as simple as a name can create_

_Voldemort, shudders and grim expressions come from every direction of the Wizarding World, though the Muggles have a different fear. Fear of death, fear of their relationships failure… yet is there _such _a fine difference between the Wizards and the Muggles here? We, of the Wizarding world hold fear for the Dark Lord Voldemort and the Muggle community is afraid of rapists or serial killers, thinking of their children's safety rather than their own._

_Both of my parents died for me, allowing my life to keep going on while theirs ended abruptly and sadly. Now Death Eaters hunt for my life because of a bound by an idiotic prophecy! With the presence of fear, so comes the inner courage that lies, quite dormant, in every soul. When Voldemort is spoken without fear, the fear is turned into bravery. When I say the name I do not intend to act courageous, but rather to show to my fellow companions and friends that fear is quite easy to beat. Omitting a simple thing such as a name allows the swelling pride inside of one rise triumphant, expelling the fear quite easily._

_When a duel is fought, you are, no doubt, nervous as to what his/her opponent will throw at you, whether it be simple red sparks or the dreaded killing curse. Though is death really something to be afraid of? Death brings end to suffering, those who are weeping in sorrow, though, as Dumbledore told me a long time ago. "Death is but the next adventure."_

_One should not fear the inevitable end, for it is rather… inevitable, expected even. When you are fighting Death Eaters every moment of your life; you find yourself quite accustomed to the distinctive stench of death. Fear and death are completely different, therefore they should not be mistaken for each other._

_One who feared death dramatically was Draco Malfoy, he felt that his life was worth more then a lowly Muggle-born's, therefore he should be able to live longer. Malfoy fought battles yes, conveniently, on the other side of myself, killing children his own young age, Malfoy thought of himself the best, this pride blinded him, blocking him away from the most needed people in the world, friends. Fear entrapped him, causing his mind to become corrupt and his body turned into a killing machine. Malfoy was certainly lost, though he believed himself to be the ultimate being, capable of accomplishing everything; even defeating his master: the great Lord Voldemort. His heart tainted with this inner greed; he was cast out, wandering around the world aimlessly; not being able to cast the simplest of spells._

_I thought of myself a copy of Malfoy, torn apart from the rest of the world because of reputation, though I walked a different path, the one of righteous in my opinion, the one that belonged to me. He followed the path of his father, but what he failed to understand was that he was not his father, but himself, he could not follow the path of the ruthless Lucius Malfoy because of the declination of everything needed in his life._

_Malfoy feared; that was the huge difference between his father and himself. Nothing is essentially wrong with fearing, it is not an asset of course, but most would rather toss it away, but with this additional emotion; complications start. Such as pure insanity as Malfoy found out the hard way, guilt does not swell inside of me. Malfoy feared at losing everything, especially the reputation that his father had received, though one has to enter battle with nothing to lose._

_But now as I gaze up at Hermione's glowing smile… I realize that I have plenty to lose…_

_- Harry Potter_


	12. Chapter 10: Beyond the Dark Sun

Summary:

Short chapter up ahead, took awhile to write it too. My deepest apologies for that… anyway, here's Chapter Ten, the First Chapter of Part Two: Winter's Sun! The chapter starts immediately after Chapter nine ended, which I usually DON'T do so it's a nice change I suppose. The reader will learn of a death very early on and Voldemort seemed to want a change in location, and the Dark Lord _always _gets what he wants!

Disclaimer:

I do not own, or plan to make profit off of, these Part/Chapter names. Part one was all Lost Horizon, by far my favourite Power Metal band (look em' up if you have the chance! You'll have to look REALLY hard though note this is not intended to be subliminal advertising, it is merely a recommendation). Part Two is called Winter's Sun, which is taken off of Wintersun, my favourite Melodic Death Metal Band (like Lost Horizon I REALLY recommend them), the chapter names also are taken from Wintersun. Yet again I do not own the characters except for Eleanor Reynolds and Aran Schmitz, and they will both be used in other fics ONLY with MY permission, I do not plan to make profit with this tale or with the chapter names.

Chapter 10:

Beyond the Dark Sun

No pain stung Harry as he stood quite still in front of his previous Professor's body. The stone fell to the ground, Harry forgetting about the seemingly warning the ghost like creature gave him, he didn't flinch as his Defence against the Dark Arts teacher entered the room, moving swiftly to Snape's side and feeling his pulse. Soon enough Harry felt his own feet moving, not knowing where he was going.

Thoughts were crammed into every corner inside of his mind, questions debating Snape's trust towards the school, Harry did not notice Parvati and Lavender's startled expressions at the wreck of the entrance to the Gryffindor Common room, he continued to stare blankly at nothing, not allowing his eyes to focus on anything, letting them remain blurry to the rest of the world.

Harry found his thoughts speaking to him once more. _"You've killed for the first time Harry. Don't you feel the manly pride swell up inside of you?" _The Boy-who-lived felt a snort reply this.

_"Why must you persist in coming into my mind Voldemort? Aren't you more intelligent then I am? If this is true why do you insist on dwelling inside of my mind, reading my incredibly inferior thoughts!"_

_"My, my Harry, I thought I would just see what you would do to my good friend Severus. You see Severus has betrayed me, and for that he deserved death, which you just dealt of course, using that beloved stone."_

Harry froze at this, causing the Professor, who had his arm gripped, quite tightly, on Harry's shoulder._ "W-wh…what?" _Voldemort laughed eerily at this, causing the usual brave Harry to ripple slightly.

_"Yes Harry, you just killed the worthless traitor Severus Snape, is that so difficult to understand!" _Harry shook his head, looking up at the slightly frowning expression of his teacher.

"Is Sna… Professor Snape… de…dead?" Aran looked away at this comment, his arm falling to a resting position on his side.

"Yes Harry," Harry froze at this, pinching himself on the arm, hoping to Merlin that he was in a dream at this moment, however, his vision blurry still, nothing blurred further. No more explanation was needed, Harry cursed quite loudly, allowing Voldemort to laugh evilly again.

_"You disliked Snape did you not? You wish for more do you not?" _Harry stopped pacing, and stood planted on two feet; staring at the ground. _"What about young Draco? You wish for your two hands to curl themselves around his neck, watching the fear grow on his expression and the cries of he-"_

_"SHUT UP! GET OUT!" _Harry shouted both in his mind and in the real world, he fell to the ground, cursing his mind's weakness with snarls. Harry's world blackened as the laugh clouded his entire mind, cries from his teacher could be heard slightly, but the laugh automatically overloaded it, causing it to distance itself from Harry's conscience.

Another curse fell automatically out of Harry's mouth as his eyes opened to gaze at the rather familiar ceiling of the Hospital Wing. The Boy-who-lived shut his two emerald eyes and sighed deeply.

Then the _sweet _voice of the school nurse prevented him from drifting into slumber. "Third time eh?"

"Think it's the fourth…" Harry replied grumpily and Madam Pomfrey laughed heartedly. Harry did not hear any response come from her, but she gave him a simple looking potion, coloured navy blue, and made him drink three quarters of it before snatching it away; mumbling quietly.

Harry watched her trot back to her office, no doubt still mumbling, while he rubbed his eyes and looked around for his glasses. He found them, placing them on top of his two ears and shaking his head, checking if they were on properly, he ran his right hand through his hair; feeling it sticking every which way. He felt a sidelong smile crawl onto his expression, knowing he was quite in character here. He moved his gaze around the room, having nothing better to do, but then he was startled slightly when the towering double doors of the room opened and his two best friends stepped inside.

Hermione came in first, her eyes finding Harry's and a smile appeared on her expression, she dashed over with Ron quick on her tail, she stood at Harry's right side, seeming quite at a loss for words.

Though, surprisingly, Ron seemed to take the initiative to point out his thoughts. "You seem to be screwing up a lot."

"You figure," Harry replied dryly and Ron chuckled slightly, sounding quite awkward.

Hermione was opening and closing her mouth, and Harry moved his gaze to her, raising his eyebrows in a questioning look. She responded quickly, stuttering slightly. "I-I was worried abo…about you." Harry laughed rather openly at this, earning two looks of astonishment from his friends.

"When have you not been worried about me?" The Boy-who-lived said remembering the aftermath of the first task of the Triwizard Tournament and the finger marks planted on Hermione's face. Hermione's eyes lightened up at this, nodding slightly.

"How're you feeling?" She said, pulling two chairs up for herself and Ron. Harry shrugged at this, deciding to give her the same answer that he had given to Mrs. Weasley so long ago.

"I've been better, but also a lot worse." He said simply.

Ron leaned back at this comment, causing the chair he was sitting on to stand on two legs. "So what happened to Snape?" Harry looked away from his two friends, grabbing a section of his blanket unconsciously and started to rub his hands off it.

Neither Ron nor Hermione said anything while Harry was rubbing against the blanket. Harry didn't want to admit that he had indeed murdered Snape, even with the nagging voice of Lord Voldemort inside of his head constantly, reminding him of his crime.

"He's dead," Harry stated simply yet he looked quite blank. "I killed him." He added for good measure and silence replied this addition.

"B-but how?" Ron spoke after long moments of silence. Harry laughed openly at this, an eerie laugh flowing out of his normal-shaped mouth.

_"How indeed?" _Harry wondered to himself, smiling widely. _"I murdered him of course, the stone was just the murder weapon used to kill him. I loved every moment of it, ripping his entire soul from his body."_

Harry sat up, staring widely at nothingness. _"W-what?"_

_"I killed him! The world will praise my abilities! Rewarding me with the greatest riches of my dreams!" _Harry's eyes narrowed, a frown appearing on his face.

_"What, in the name of Merlin, are you doing Voldemort?"_

_"I KILLED SEVERUS SNAPE!" _Voldemort continued to think using Harry's voice. _"I RIPPED HIS ENTIRE SOUL FROM HIS BODY AND AM GOING TO PRESENT IT TO MY MASTER!"_

Harry covered his ears, wincing from the pain of the laugh erupting inside of his mind, crying around his entire brain, making it swell with agony. He did not hear his own cry of pain erupt around the entire room, but apparently Madam Pomfrey did, for soon Harry was breathing speedily and lying on the floor, clutching his scar.

"What, in Hollow's name, are you doing Mr. Potter!" Madam Pomfrey used Harry's line from before without realizing it.

"Hol…oh?" Ron replied dumbly and Harry then heard a loud cry of pain and laughed knowing that Hermione had hit Ron somewhere sensitive.

Harry rose from the floor, brushing his night clothes off and looked up at Madam Pomfrey. "Someone's currently… inhabiting my mind and using it to corrupt me from within alright!" Harry spat at her, quite irritated himself, he felt guilty the next second though, for she looked fairly taken aback, but then her expression changed to one of irritation as well, in a second her two arms were planted on her sides, fumes seemingly coming out of her ears.

"If you're going to talk about me in _that _tone Potter," she said huffily. "THEN GET OUT!" The next moment Harry was outside, facing the closing doors of the hospital wing, his school robes on.

"Well, great job Harry." Hermione congratulated Harry bluntly, Harry turned to her, his eyes flaming. She stepped back, looking down at the floor. Ron attended to her, patting her on the shoulder.

Harry, the bad mood that he was in owing to it, snorted then turned on his heels and walked away moodily. Like any other teenager his age, he'd had enough of everything. Enough of Voldemort's bickering; enough of Hermione's new found relationship, enough of Ron's obsession with this relationship, enough of Ginny's constant stares from every angle conceived by Merlin.

Harry then kicked a suit of armour near him causing it to grab its knee though without having a voice; Harry knew if it had one it would be screaming in pain. The suit of amour across from it jiggled its helmet's flap, clearly laughed; Harry pulled out his wand and zapped it with a burst of electrical sparks, causing it to shut up.

Harry stormed off aimlessly, wishing the old Hermione was with him, the Hermione before the idiotic relationship. He wished for the girl that he could talk to about everything, the one he could _actually _count on, on calming him down. He saw a first or second year student in front of him cower in terror when she saw him, dashing off in the direction which she had come in. Harry wondered now which class he was supposed to be in and what day it was.

"Potter," Harry stopped, looking behind him to see Aran Schmitz leaning against the shadowed side of a pillar, looking quite amused. "Your stomping around his attracted Peeves it seems, for my class is being interrupted by his form of… of amusement let's say." He stepped off of the pillar, walking toward him.

"I-I'm… sorry si-sir." Harry said looking at the floor, guilt on his face. To his surprise Schmitz laughed.

"My class is enjoying tormenting Peeves, for they are my Seventh Year class and are learning how to combat ghostly creatures. I owe you the lesson Potter." Harry's eyes narrowed at this comment, he found himself confused. For before it seemed that his professor was blaming him for the problem of Peeves. "This lesson wasn't originally planned for today, but they're more then a match for the poltergeist." He said, as if reading Harry's mind.

Harry looked up slightly from the floor, his eyes narrowing. "I-I…"

"Need to see Dumbledore." Aran finished for him, crossing his arms, though Harry was surprised when he felt his head moved upward then downward, a clear nod. "You need to cleanse your mind; Occulmency is the only way Potter. Knowledge Potter, knowledge, use your head Potter and Occulmency will come quickly." With that said, the Defence against the Dark Arts teacher turned and entered his classroom without saying anything else. Harry stood on the spot, wondering if he should follow the wise teacher's advice and visit Dumbledore.

Then, to Harry's greatest displeasure, his mi-Voldemort spoke to him, no longer sounding crazy but sounding a lot like…

_"Myself," _Harry said to himself in his mind's eye as he heard the voice speaking to him.

_"Dumbledore is weak Harry!" _It said with malice, Harry wasn't even sure if it was Voldemort or not. _"Remember, power is what holds everything together, how do you think you've done so well in School? You are powerful Harry, _USE THAT POWER_!" _Harry shook his head, walking on. "YOU DON'T NEED DUMBLEDORE!"

Harry stopped in his tracks, turning around and seeing a shadow scurrying off in the opposite direction. Harry roared something ineligible and charged toward the running shadow, throwing every curse he could think of. He knew there was no chance of him catching up, the portraits and the stone walls all around him changed to a blur as he gained speed, now seeing the figure step out of the shadows, a fearful look on his face.

"MALFOY!" Harry identified the stalker, shooting a curse at him. "DIE YOU-" he yelled the curse, forgetting about all of the lessons going on around him, he saw heads of various teachers poke out of their rooms, pulling out their wands and aiming them at Harry, trying to immobilize him.

Harry dodged every curse and jinx without stalling, shooting the duration jinx at Malfoy, aiming to slow him down, he hit home. Cheering in his mind's eye, he slowed to a stop and Harry kicked him to the floor, pounding his still body with his right foot.

"You're the one who's caused all this!" Harry yelled at him, releasing the spell with the simple muttering of the dispelling charm. Malfoy didn't answer immediately though, for he seemed to be in great pain right now. Harry paused for a moment, letting him catch his breath, then kicked him again, demanding an explanation again.

"MR. POTTER!" Harry turned around, pointing his wand to his Transfiguration teacher and she stepped backward, just a foot ahead of, what seemed the rest of the school. It seemed that Harry's yells and taunts had caused classes to be interrupted. Harry turned back, ignoring the rest of the school.

"Tell me Malfoy, why have you been planting idiotic impersonations of Lord Voldemort inside my mind!" Malfoy coughed continually, allowing Harry to kick him in the stomach again. "TELL ME!"

"I-I ha-ve no… id…….idea wha-" Harry didn't allow him to finish, pulling up his wand and hearing a voice in the back of his head.

_"Kill him… spill his blood Harry… you know you want to… do it… kill him. KILL HIM!" _Harry's eyes glowed red, turning into slits, his entire body rippled, a black cloud covering him and then an explosion sounded around the area, making stone bricks collapse and fall onto the students below, McGonagall luckily reacted fast, uttering a defensive charm that covered the entire population there with a shielding cloth.

McGonagall's gaze moved to where Harry had been standing a moment ago, there was nothing but clearing dust and bits of the wall that used to be there.

Harry found himself waking up on a rocky floor, his entire body screaming in agony as he rose from the stone bricked floor, he heard drips and moans all around him. Then, seemingly out of thin air, a scream erupted from far away, yet Harry could hear it quite clearly, the scream echoed around the entire room Harry was in, he covered his ears, wincing at the terrified noise. Then a resounding crack split the cry, and everything went silent. Harry opened his eyes, soaking in the room that he was in.

He was in a cell, bars in front of him, and drips of water falling from the roof of the small cage. He paced around the room, racking his memory to find out why, of anywhere in the world, he was here.

"Come to think of it," Harry spoke his thoughts out loud, stopping his pace and sitting on the nearby bed-like structure, for what he was sitting on merely resembled a bed, hard as a rock and no pillows came with it. "Where am I?" He finished, then, quite suddenly, a sweep of despair flooded in him.

_"You're at Azkaban Harry." _Voldemort's voice floated into his mind and Harry cursed, causing Voldemort to laugh thoroughly. _"Fear not, my Dementors no longer wish to stink up that dungeon, instead I have other guards, ones who do not even know where they are."_

Harry felt his gaze move toward the entrance of his cage, seeing… something staring right back at him. It seemed like a human, though its eyes were lidless and its mouth opened wide with a hungry look on its broken face. Scars tore at the dark skin of this creature; variously shaped holes covered the creature, making Harry shiver since he could see their even more broken bones through those holes.

_"I trust you like my servants? The Undead creatures which I have deemed Zombies."_ Harry's eyes narrowed to the ground, trying his best to ignore both the moans from the Zombie and Voldemort's continuous taunts. _"…eed Dementors Harry, for these do just the same while my Dementors feed on the seemingly innocent Wizards across the land."_

_"Voldemort, have you ever closed your mouth? I suppose you would have died from lack of breathing though… oh wait, I forgot, you're _above _breathing!" _Harry taunted right back, earning a hearty laugh from Voldemort.

_"While you sit here Harry, you're friends are _fighting _a losing duel, my Death Eaters have invaded Hogwarts Harry. Killing everything in their path and I watch them, feeding on the terror echoing easily around the entire school." _Harry rose from the bed, his hands curled into fists. So he couldn't wait till the end of the year could he?

_"Yo-you'll pay Voldemort…" _Harry automatically reached for his wand's usual resting place, but did not find it there, earning yet another cackle from Lord Voldemort.

_"How so Harry, I am here, outside Hogwarts, while you are across the world from me, in addition, you cannot Apparate from inside Azkaban. So you can rule out that possible escape route." _Voldemort laughed again while Harry steamed. _"You're so predictable Harry, Occulmency would have saved you, but you determinedly stopped yourself from learning it, I must thank you for that dear Severus._

_"Though I owe the most thanks to that imbecile Draco, for he has always brought the true anger out of you, not as much as Dumbledore did last year though. I must thank him as well when I see him again."_

Harry cringed when he thought of Dumbledore, he thought of himself as a failure now. Another scream penetrated Harry's ears, truly far away but seemingly close, Harry didn't bother to cover his ears, for nothing stopped the insane laughter of Lord Voldemort.

_"Ah my ingenious plans, your friends delayed it slightly early on, but I must thank yet another person. That Mudblood's lover Ronald Weasley, for he started the relationship between him and that girl. You were envious, a negative emotion, of that. I ignited that emotion, along with the greed resting inside of you Harry._

_"Greed has always dominated in my body Harry, with that inner greed and my power I raised myself to where I am today. Terror rampant around the world, both Muggle and Wizard alike now fear me owing to Fudge's idiocy. As you know Harry, I feed on negative emotions, fear, terror, and hate; you knew this for a prolonged time Harry._

_"Yet you continued to abuse these emotions, a sensible man would question this, but the thinker would know that I nourished these emotions, allowing you to hate further and greed further, allowing me simple access to your mind. Dumbledore also knew of my intrusions, but did nothing to stop me. I know from your thoughts that you and Dumbledore had one Occulmency session together and that was it, I laughed openly at this, rewarding even my stupidest followers._

Harry tried his best to ignore this long speech by Voldemort; he tried to ignore his lies about Hogwarts crumbling to the ground. If Harry could even ignore all of that, he would not be able to omit Voldemort's laugh. High-pitched and eerie sounding, it ripped at your sanity, eating away at it like a starving teenager, and the pain of his scar added to the "excellent" mixture.

_"Ah, Harry you make me laugh. Your determined silence and pessimistic thoughts clench my everlasting thirst; you are serving me my supper on a silver platter!" _He cackled with joy, ripping at Harry's scar though Harry was far too used to it to care. He rubbed it absently while Voldemort continued to taunt him. _"I hope you liked my Muggle reference Harry! For, like you, I had a selfish father, one who did not care for his child at all."_

Harry looked up at the wall opposite of his bed, not taking in anything on the wall. _"Selfish father!" _Harry thought back to him, anger evident. _"My Father never abandoned me!"_

Voldemort laughed yet again while Harry breathed hard. _"Your father never abandoned you eh? What about when you're dear mother was pregnant? What about when your Aunt was ill and your mother went to see her but your father would rather play Quidditch?"_

_"W-what…?" _Harry replied blankly, hearing a dramatic gasp come from Voldemort.

_"Dumbledore did not tell you? Dumbledore did not tell you that your father raped your mother!" _Harry rose at this comment, steaming quite evidently, anger ripping at his sanity inside of him.

_"WHAT'RE YOU TALKING ABOUT! MY PARENTS LOVED EACH OTHER AND ME, THAT'S WHAT PROTECTS ME FROM YOU YOU-_" Harry ended the cry with a loud and quite rude curse, sending sparks through his brain.

_"You dare insult me with that lowly word! CRUCIO!" _Harry did not expect this, off-guard; the pain from the Cruciatus curse increased dramatically, cringing and falling to the ground, Harry felt the true Cruciatus curse for the first time in his life, the agony of Voldemort's youth was thrown in with the curse, making Harry scream out even more, he knew he was out of breath, he knew that every muscle inside of his body was crying out in pain, he knew his sanity had long ago shattered into a million pieces, he knew that he was going to die. Yet Harry James Potter continued to scream out in sheer pain.

The curse continued to rip at him as he cowered on the floor, screaming as loudly as when he had started, tears poured from his eyes, laughter ringed in his ears, Harry wanted the daggers all around him to cease stabbing him, to stop penetrating his skin and ripping at his entire body.

Then it all ended suddenly, the laughter never ceased though, Harry felt his head roll back, and he lost consciousness.

A/N made a HUGE error... apparently Voldemort was dead for a moment ... so i've replaced it with a... "more better" version


	13. Chapter 11: Sleeping Stars

Summary:

Yet another short chapter, sorry about the REAL delay but school just started up again…. I won't be posting that often anymore, but I'll try my best! Anyway, chapter eleven's here, Harry awakens to a couple of visitors and experiences what most can't without a mirror.

Chapter 11:

Sleeping Stars

Harry awoke painfully; though the curse had been lifted it still stung every part of his body, he winced as he rose and stretched his muscles, soaking in the small cell around him. He moved himself to a more comfortable position on his bed, lying down so that his back faced the floor while his green eyes pointed upward toward the black ceiling.

The Boy-who-lived felt his eyes move toward the doorway to the cell, his eyes connecting those of his Zombie friend who seemed to be staring at him with hungry eyes, he noticed for the first time the way the pair of lidless eyes seem to dart around without any coordination, just like that teacher had a few years ago…

"M…. what was his name?" Harry found himself mumbling, looking away from the Zombie and placing all his might into remembering this unknown teacher. "He's an order member isn't he?"

Harry was, no doubt, bored and lost.

As he thought, screams echoed all around the prison, the terrified sounds bouncing off walls and eventually ending up at Harry's end of the prison. When there were no screams, quiet moans and groans could be heard from Harry's neighbouring cells. He started to count how much time it took for the next scream to come after the first, and found it to be quite consistent.

"…forty-four, forty-five…" then the scream came after the forth-fifth second, loud as ever and as feminine as ever. Harry sighed, his eyes dropping to the Zombie yet again. It hadn't moved a single centimetre it seemed, for its eyes were still staring, as hungrily as ever.

It was then that Harry finally heard something different from the usual moans and screams, a crashing sound, echoing eerily around the prison. Harry rose, hearing the echoes fading to elsewhere, he didn't move closer to the guarding Zombie but moved to the opposite wall, where he could strain his neck in an effort to see what was happening.

"_REDUCTO_!" The Zombie in front of Harry's cell zoomed away from sight, a loud moan of pain echoing in his wake. Harry recognized the voice, just as he had recognized the eyes of the Zombies; he then looked up at the familiar chocolate brown eyes of Hermione Granger.

"H-Hermione…?" Harry said blankly as she walked up to the cell door, panting slightly.

"Oh here you are," she stopped planted herself across from Harry, wiping her forehead. "You have your wand?" Harry lifted his arms, looking at his belt with a doubtful expression.

"Truth be known, I haven't actually looked for it…" Harry said, his voice sounding quite distant.

"Damn it," Hermione whispered, causing the Boy-who-lived to look up from his belt. "Professor Dumbledore was right; we've got to get you out of here as quickly as possible. Stand back." Hermione back away two steps, Harry doing the same. "I don't think I can use _Alohomora _on it since it doesn't actually have a lock on it."

Harry watched the various transactions on her face with interest, the frown, and then the obvious biting movements inside her mouth. "Why don't you just use _Reducto _on it?" Harry suggested after he thought he had gone quite far with the staring. "You didn't have a problem with using it on the Zombie…"

"Yeah… okay… step back more." She took a breath after Harry had pressed his entire back to the wall, telling his mind to stay alert. He then disconnected from his mind when Hermione suddenly shook her head. "This isn't going to work… the bars will probably shot forward right into…" she said crestfallen.

"Me," Harry finished for her, relaxing a bit and starting a consistent pace around the cage. "I don't think I want to experience the life of a pancake either." Hermione laughed slightly at this, the sound not escaping her throat. She cleared the questioned part of her body, frowning and, most likely, thinking hard.

Then, quite suddenly, an expression of realization dawned onto her face. Leaving it unspoken, she moved forward; her wand ready. She stopped a foot in front of the bars, holding her wand up; closing her eyes, a long blazing red beam of fire erupted from the end of her wand, curling around the bars. Harry noticed the bars seemed to be melting now, becoming quite gooey.

Soon enough there was a big enough hole for Harry to fit in, the rest of the bars around the section Hermione aimed for seemed to be intact, Harry squeezed through the hole, Hermione backing away to give him space to fall down on. When the Boy-who-lived emerged from the hole fully, he brushed his own robes off and flashed Hermione a grateful smile.

"Ho-" but the Witch held up a hand, telling him she'd explain everything later. Harry opened his mouth again but then Hermione flashed him a frustrated look, telling him, yet again, that she'd tell him at a later date. "Hermione…?"

"I'll tell you later," she repeated using words. "Dumbledore's waiting." Harry's entire body then shot up, rapt with attention.

"Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed, thinking the Headmaster had lost control of the doomed castle.

Hermione grabbed the Boy-who-lived's arm quite suddenly, tearing him from his thoughts. "Come on! We've got to go!" His friend yelled sharply, Harry nodded in reply to this and allowed his friend to drag him away from his cell.

Harry couldn't follow the path Hermione was lugging him along owing slightly to the angry thoughts erupting from inside of his mind. Voldemort seemed to have finally noticed that his bane had escaped, Harry smirked as Hermione and he turned a corner then, with a gasp, Hermione halted, jolting Harry for a moment. Harry looked upward to find the source of this sudden stop and found it staring right back at him.

"Damn it," he muttered with a slight snarl. "Zombies…" Harry noticed the black blade it seemed to drag along with it as its feet scraped against the stone floor. Harry's heart was pounding rather speedily; he slowly backed away; pulling Hermione Granger in front of him, using his good friend as a human shield. "You have the wand Hermione!"

Hermione then shook her head and pulled her hand free from Harry, pointing her wand at the approaching Zombie. "_REDUCTO_!" Using the same spell from earlier, the Zombie flew backward; the black sword clanking to the ground. Hermione wasted no time though, she took Harry's hand again and darted forward.

Harry eyed the black sword with thought, thinking he could use the sword for a weapon. "Wait," she obeyed, Harry grabbing the sword on the floor and feeling its hilt. He cursed the weight of the sword as he lifted it from the ground, though he had only used a sword once before in his life, he thought it would be better than using his fists against these creatures.

He nodded to Hermione, walking behind her; she gripped him as tightly as before and set off. Then, a few moments later, Hermione stopped when she spotted another Zombie approaching them, the expression mirroring the one from moments before.

"Another one!" Harry cried out.

Though Hermione shook her head, "it's the same one from before; I thought it would die from the crash…" Harry watched its progress toward Hermione and him mutely, his eyes glancing towards the black sword in his grip.

The sword itself seemed to have something distinct surrounding it, like a dark aura that left the user feeling rather pessimistic. The twisting snake-like pattern that adorned the black blade seemed to add to the depressing effect of the sword. Harry lifted it up, needing only one hand to do so, arranging his feet into a somewhat ready position.

"_INCENDIO_!" The spell came from his good friend, ripping at the remaining flesh of the Zombie, the skeleton of the creature falling, in a burning heap, onto the stone bricked floor. Harry relaxed his posture, letting the black sword fall to his side.

"I thought that might work…" Hermione muttered, edging past the burning corpse. Harry followed suit; watching with some interest as the flames consumed the remaining flesh of the Zombie. "Since humans are rather fragile towards fire; Zombies should be even _more _delicate." Harry heard her mutter again as they made their way around.

The two Gryffindors walked in silence, knowing if they spoke both guards and prisoners would be alerted and most prisoners of the Death Eaters were in fact Death Eaters, those who have betrayed their master or their master's followers. Another scream penetrated the eerie silence and Hermione cringed, Harry couldn't help but notice the eerie cold feeling that has seemed to stain his heart for the entire duration of his stay here at Azkaban.

"I never thought I would ever end up here…" Harry whispered, not knowing why he was whispering. His eyes darted around the empty hallway, looking for anything that may be the source of this uneasiness.

Hermione moaned slightly, and Harry stopped looking at her with raised eyebrows. "I think we're lost." She said honestly. "I-I mean I don't remember this feeling at all… and none of the corridors seem familiar at all! I'm… I'm sorry… I'm so hopeless… I can't even rescue my best friend properly." She chuckled, the sound escaping through her lips but the sad feeling that occupied the chuckle made it sound rather… dark, Harry noticed she was now on the ground, her hands curled into fists.

"Hermione," Harry said, knelling down to face her visage that seemed to express utter sadness. "We're still together; we can make it out of here together. Just think of this as… as one of those puzzles that Professor Schmitz gave us!" The daughter of Joshua and Mia Granger laughed sourly yet again.

"We're in Azkaban! Even though it's free of Dementors, it's still a maze and full of these…. these Zombies!" Hermione rose; gesticulating her frustration seemingly violently.

"Hermione, there's no point in being pessimist-"

"I'M NOT BEING PESSIMISTIC HARRY, I'M JUST BEING… being…" Harry was surprised when she started to yell, Harry then noticed a flash of red in her eyes and gasped, rushing to her; he grabbed her rather tightly around the shoulder region of her body. "LET GO OF ME!" She yelled again, fumbling with her arms to push him away, when she managed to shove Harry away she backed away, her eyes now glowing red.

"Hermione listen to me!" Harry said through his teeth, not wanting to deal with this at all. "Voldemort's inside of y-"

"SHUT UP HARRY!" She interrupted yet again, backing away even more. "YOU'RE SO STUPID HARRY, YOU THINK YOU'RE ALL POWERFUL WITH… with… WITH YOUR SPELLS AND STUFF." Harry laughed heartedly at this, a happy expression springing on Harry Potter's face in a way that it had never truly blossomed.

"Now you just sound like Parvati, Hermione." Harry said, smiling widely at her, Hermione's body went rigid, her arms extended outward and her body leaned forward, a look of utter frustration on her face.

"WHY DON'T YOU EVER LISTEN TO ME! I SAID SHUT UP! THAT MEA-" Harry held up a hand, quite surprised when Hermione, in her current stage of rage, stopped yelling.

"Will you kindly leave my friend's body Voldemort?" Harry asked his friend, amazed at how calm and Dumbledore-like his voice sounded, though this calm demeanour disappeared instantly when Hermione raised her wand, pointing it right at Harry's eyes.

"_Crucio_," she snarled in a hissing voice that didn't belong to her. Hermione, to Harry's fortune, had never used the painful unforgivable curse; the spell went haywire, spinning around the wide corridor where it eventually disintegrated harmlessly far away from Harry.

Though the Boy-who-lived did not notice this, for he had Voldemort pinned down on the ground, while he growled ineligible dialects. Harry soon noticed a change overcome his friend's face, the red eyes disappearing for a moment to be replaced by chocolate ones, then the next moment they returned to their bloody red gleaming eyes.

Harry rose from his friend, hoping that she would find the mind strength to repel Voldemort from her mind. She seemed to be struggling quite badly, rolling from side to side, her eyes shut tightly and her teeth pressed hard together. Harry watched with pained eyes, for he knew that the rest was up to Hermione.

Quite suddenly, a welcomed breath of relief came from Hermione's mouth, while she relaxed her posture and opened her eyes ever so slightly. Her chest was moving in a quick breathing pattern, looking as if she had just run over one hundred miles at top speed.

"Now I… I know how you feel… after every…every…" Hermione shut her eyes again, trying to rise. Harry hastened to her side, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, trying to make her relax.

"Just calm down Herm-"

Hermione shook his grip away, standing up again, no tears clinging to her brown eyes. "How can I calm down Harry!" She asked with a clear hint of frustration.

Her best friend answered with complete honesty. "Just take a deep breath." She raised her eyebrows at this suggestion and Harry laughed. "This is what I had to do every night before going to sleep last year; take a deep breath and clear my mind. When I actually did that… my….my body actually felt at… ease I suppose."

"Ease?"

"Yeah, I could fall asleep faster and… and I could actually think clearly and…" Hermione laughed at how quick Harry was spitting out these observations.

She turned away from Harry, looking down the dark corridor, shutting her eyes slowly. Harry watched her breathe patiently for several moments, and then she opened her eyes quite suddenly and smiled at him.

"Somehow, you're right." The smile widened and Harry knew Voldemort no longer tainted the mind of his good friend. "Let's go." Harry nodded and fell into pace beside her.

As they walked beside each other, their footsteps the only noises to penetrate the eerie silence in the prison of Azkaban, Harry knew for a fact that their thoughts mirrored each other. Voldemort.

It seemed that the Dark Lord could not only infect Harry Potter's mind, but others as well. Harry knew even before he looked at the brown haired girl beside him out of the corner of his eye, that she was indeed skilled in every art known to Wizard and Muggle alike.

_"Even more than me no doubt," _Harry thought to himself, turning his head back so that it faced in front of him and a smile curling up ever so slightly on the usually solemn face.

The pair of Gryffindors walked in silence, knowing if they discussed anything it would disturb the silence of the prison, allowing the guards to find them without much trouble, Harry tried his best to make his footsteps as silent as possible, but found he could not master the art, always ending up with a click at the end of his step. His thoughts were drawn away from this semi… endeavour when he, and his friend, passed the first window they had seen as of yet.

Harry stopped, soon followed by Hermione, and they both looked out into the night sky.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Hermione said breathlessly, and Harry had no disagreement with this statement. The black sky was barely cloudy; a few puffs of grey and white wisps of clouds dotted the black sky here and there across the flat horizon. Harry felt himself move toward it, staring out at the moon high above them, he felt his hand move out the window, passing through a cool night breeze. Even without lights jetting out from windows, the stars did not seem to be in sight in the nearly cloudless sky.

"The stars are sleeping it seems…" Hermione said in the same breathless tone as she stepped to Harry's side. He moved over hastily to make room for her though she didn't seem to notice his little dilemma. Her two brown eyes staring blankly at the black sky above them.

A slight gust of wind sent Harry's hair flying in every direction; he turned away from Hermione's amazed expression and continued to stare at the flat horizon of the night sky. Then something caught his eye, off to the right of the window, an Owl was flying toward them. Surprising _right _towards them, Harry backed away from the window, all thoughts of the beautiful black sky thrown unceremoniously out of his head.

"What?" Hermione exclaimed from behind him, Harry continued to back away nonetheless. Then breathed a sigh of relief and placed a smile on his face when his Snowy Owl, Hedwig, flew in with her beady amber eyes. "Hedwig!" Harry chuckled as his companion set herself on his shoulder, nibbling his ear affectingly. Harry threw a smile Hermione's way as he ran his left hand across the feathers of his Owl.

"Rather smart isn't she?" Harry said with a sidelong smile and Hermione nodded.

"Beautiful and smart, can't get much better than that can you?" Harry laughed heartedly at this, pointing a finger to the dark, shadowed corridor behind her.

He let his finger fall when Hermione turned around. "We should be going, can't dawdle can we?" Hermione turned around with her eyebrows raised.

"You know what "dawdle" means?" She asked abruptly and Harry stared back at her.

"I'm that dumb eh?" Both of them chuckled at this, the laugh actually escaping from their respective diaphragms this time, Harry felt at peace suddenly, wanting nothing more than to burst out laughing and roll around on the rock hard floor.

"You're not dumb Harry." She said rolling her eyes and turning around, leading her friend down the passage.

"I'm not a lot of things Hermione." Harry countered with his sidelong smile still on his face. "I know intelligence is not part of that."

"You're not dumb Harry." She repeated with the same, if not more, firm tone. She didn't move her gaze from the corridor in front of her, her white right hand gripping the small stick tightly.

Silence fell between the two friends yet again, though it ended soon enough. For when they turned yet another corner, a person was standing in front of them, a dark cloak shrouding his entire body.

"You have finally found your way here…" he hissed eerily, Harry stopped, backing away along the small one lane corridor while the stranger advanced, his hood falling down to reveal messy black hair. Really messy raven black hair…

"H-Harry?" Hermione stuttered, dropping her wand. Harry stopped backing away as well, standing up straight with his mouth open. There, staring right back at him was himself; the same bright green eyes, the same raven black messy hair, the same cut across his cheek from walking in the woods near the Dursley's house just when summer started.

Harry lifted his right hand to rub against his own cut, feeling the scab along his right cheek. The other Harry laughed heartedly at this gesture.

"I am amazing aren't I Harry?" He said with Harry's own voice thrown in for good measure. Harry felt his hand drop, his two hands curling into fists. "Oh but wait, watch this!" He shut his eyes, and then reopened them a second later.

At first glance Harry didn't see anything different, then his black hair started to lengthen, his green eyes darkened, his face started to morph, his entire body seemed to shrink.

"No…" Hermione whispered just as she saw herself right in front of her. Lord Voldemort then laughed eerily yet again.

"_CRUCIO_!" Hermione's voice screamed, Harry immediately grabbed the real Hermione's arm, pulling it, as well as the rest of her body, away from Voldemort's curse.

"How could he get here so fast!" Harry hissed with a snarled tone, dashing off with Hermione in his wake.

"Come back Harry my dear!" The Hermione Voldemort yelled from behind them, Harry turned his head back enough to see the copy walking quite calmly. "If you don't stop, your friend dies!"

Harry cursed, knowing the corridor's lack of width and Hermione would be caught in any curse even before Voldemort would reach them. Harry whispered to Hermione.

"Duck when I say so okay?" Harry didn't check if she heard it or not, but kept running nonetheless.

"_CRUCIO_!"

"DUCK!" The two phrases were yelled out simultaneously, Hermione fell to the ground while Harry jumped into the air, turning around in mid air while sending a curse at the unforgiveable curse.

_"Thank you _How to Duel with Death Eaters_!" _Harry thought to himself as his counter-curse hit the unforgivable. It was indeed _the _counter-curse, for it would merely send the curse right back at its user. Voldemort was caught off-guard now, the curse ripping at his female body.

Harry didn't watch his rival crying out in pain, though he had to claw at his own scar to mildly mend the pain he was feeling in it. He grabbed Hermione, running off down the corridor with her in tow and Voldemort's screams now only an echo of the past.


	14. Chapter 12: Unclean Death

Summary:

Yes! I'm not dead yet! I come back to with a band for Cry of a Restless Soul! Now with chapter twelve, Harry and Hermione rush to escape the prison of Azkaban, yet, when Voldemort still lurks within Harry Potter's mind, Death Eaters are dispatched to head them off. The two friends still run, knowing their pursuers are not far behind...

Chapter 12:

Unclean Death

Screams still ringing within his mind's ears, Harry ran along the corridor, dragging the frightened Hermione Granger along with him. Not following a fixed path, the only Potter alive this day periodically changed directions, hoping he wasn't running in a giant circle.

A few Zombies blocked their path at some points, only to be cut down by either Hermione's spells or Harry's blade.

"Har….Harry," the mumble startled the boy in question, making him halt in his run. He let his hand fall to his right side, while Hermione started to massage her hand while breathing rather deeply and speedily.

"Oh… uh… sorry about that," Harry slurred rather apologetically, pointing his free hand to her seemingly injured wrist where Harry had gripped her moments before. Hermione immediately looked taken aback, letting her grip fall away quickly.

"N-no… no need to be sorry," She smiled weakly. "I should be thankful for your quick reflexes rather than…than"

"Disappointed by them," Harry supplied with a grunt, looking away from her tired expression, he gazed at both ends of the straight corridor, in case any sort of visitor decided to show up.

He moved towards the stone bricked wall to his left, dropping down onto the floor with a long breath of air sliding out of his mouth and into the clammy and dreary air of Azkaban. Shutting his shinning green eyes, Harry now pushed all of his senses into his hearing. He found that he could hear Hermione's tired breaths, the thundering waves outside of the complex periodically hitting the rocks below him. Harry Potter looked at the stone floor beneath him, sighing deeply, wanting nothing more than to be worried about homework, upcoming tests, or even exams.

Now he was fighting for his life, following a guide who seemed to be as lost as him! Harry looked up at his most trusted friend and, by the look on her face; he could tell she was thinking the same thing.

"Let's keep moving." Harry said, trying to keep an optimistic view on the situation. "Good ol' Voldy has probably sent some of his stupid people over already." Hermione chuckled, but nodded and started to walk onward, Harry in tow.

What surprised the Boy-who-lived was the lack of… anything around them. Harry suddenly stopped, alerting his friend as well. She looked at him with a questioning look and Harry lifted his arms in dismay.

"Hedwig's gone!" He said, cursing under his breath for not noticing sooner. Hermione exclaimed something rather ineligible, a simple noise of panic. She started to look around wildly while Harry mimicked her.

A sudden hoot alerted the two Gryffindors, they both realized it came from outside and the two of them ran to the nearest window, seeing the familiar white owl seemingly treading air right at their level, looking rather confused at the sudden search pause of the two friends. The two humans present sighed with equal relief and departed once again, their wands drawn and Hedwig flying outside of the complex.

Soon the one lane corridor split into two different corridors, Harry cursed, knowing Hermione would want to split up.

"You want to spi-" Harry shushed her and shook his head.

He pushed up his glasses so that they actually covered his emerald green eyes; he looked right into Hermione's bright eyes. "Aren't you the guide?" He said with his eyebrows raised with a sarcastic hint thrown in. Hermione looked down at the stone lined floor beneath them, stuttering.

"I… I.. fo…" She looked up from the floor and blurted out. "I forgot the route." She immediately turned her eyes away from him, as if she were embarrassed by this out-of-character intrusion.

Though, the Hermione's seemingly great surprise, Harry laughed, trying to not to be too loud of course, while trying to pass on the message that Hermione did not need to be embarrassed by this.

Hermione, apparently not catching on to Harry's plot, crossed her arms, finding this rather ridiculous. Harry stopped laughing, shutting any trace of it far away. "We're not splitting up." He said in place of the laughter.

"And why not?" She asked with her arms folded still.

"We split up in Schmitz's dungeon because we knew we were safe in it, even if things were looking drastic someone would apparate and get us out." Harry lifted his arms, trying to add on to his explanation with what visuals he had available. "Here, in Azkaban, the prison of Death Eaters, we are _not _safe. That is a fact, and splitting up would just make us… make us even more… what's that word…"

"Vulnerable?" Hermione suggested and Harry shrugged.

"Sure," he said simply, and the girl shrugged as well.

"I suppose you're right…"

Harry laughed at this comment. "What is this? The first time ever?" Hermione chuckled at this, the sound of laughter not escaping between her lips.

"Let's keep going," she said in a monotone voice that Harry knew didn't belong to her.

_"Damn that stupid Voldemort." _Harry said in his mind, following Hermione along the right corridor since the left one would lead them further into the complex and they would lose sight of Hedwig. _"This possessing thing is getting old!"_

_"Is it now Harry my dear?" _Harry cursed, smacking his head with his free hand since the other one gripped his wand, in a hope that it would send Voldemort scurrying away like the rat that he was. Though, as usual, he laughed in the same eerie tone as ever. _"You can't escape from me forever Harry, as I am dwelling in your mind still. Run coward! Run as fast as you can!"_

"Wh…what?" Harry said out loud, drawing his friend's attention.

_"It's amazing."_ He paused, Harry frowning while Hermione watched without any noise coming from any part of her body. "_How gullible you are Harry"_

"HARRY!" Harry looked up at the familiar cry of Hermione's frightened voice. He looked at his friend, not seeing any change of expression on her face. Voldemort then laughed wildly in Harry's mind while the Boy-who-lived groaned. _"You see?"_

Harry started to walk onward, trying to omit the voice of Voldemort as he howled in laughter in his mind, Hermione followed him, a look of worry on her face, though Harry was merely concentrating on getting as far away from the Dark Lord as possible.

The linked boy then heard the same Dark Lord call out an unfamiliar name; one that Harry couldn't bend his tongue in the proper way to pronounce it properly, then, out of the shadows around him, came laughter. An unnatural hissing laughter, one then sent chills up Harry's spine.

And it wasn't Voldemort. Harry knew that as a fact. He turned around, holding his wand out defensively while cloaked men of every shape and size walked forward, their wands resting at their sides.

Only one Death Eater – who else could it be? – was speaking at all. The tallest of the bunch, his hood was lowered to reveal messy black hair and a pale white face, or maybe that was just the moonlight seeping in through the few windows around them. The Death Eaters halted, an echoing silence all around them as the one man made his way forward.

"I have been looking forward to this Mr. Potter." Harry felt his mouth gape open, that voice… it couldn't be.

The man started to laugh again, the same hissing noise that Harry had gotten used to by now. He held his wand with a seemingly lazy grip, the wood on it chipped in several places, but Harry, knowing Death Eaters, knew that he it still held power within it. He moved his gaze away from the wand and returned it to the familiar face, he couldn't place his finger on the person… but really… he looked a lot like –

"Sirius…?" Harry whispered unbelievably. In truth this person did look very akin to Sirius Black, the white face, the messy black hair, the bony tall body. He laughed yet again though. Though Sirius was dead, there was no possible way he could be standing here; right in front of h-

"It's a shame really." The tall Death Eater said, interrupting Harry's thoughts, and moving to the window while crossing his hands behind his back. Looking out at the vast sea, he continued. "That my dear brother is dead while I, Regulus Black, am still alive when I was thought to be dead for… what? Sixteen years?" He laughed again, turning back to the younger humans present.

"Sixteen years is a long time my young friends." He continued, his wand still gripped lazily in his left hand, so Regulus was a left hander, Harry backed away toward the window ever so slightly, not drawing the attention of any of the other Death Eaters just yet. He knew if he tried anything stupid he would be dead in less than a second, he did not even know how many Death Eaters were present, because of their black cloaks; they all camouflaged with the darkness. "You are both sixteen correct?" Harry made no move to answer him, but kept his eyes planted within his; the taller man shrugged and raised his free right hand.

Immediately, what seemed to be, a thousand wands rose, all pointed at Harry and Hermione. The Death Eater Regulus looked back at him, a smirk on his face. "You talk, you live longer." Harry laughed openly at this, a smirk of his own appearing.

"Amazing how original you puppets are." He said, drawing hisses from every direction, hisses of utter distaste.

"Puppets eh?" Regulus said stopping his pacing when fumbling noises came from the crowd of Death Eaters behind him, a short man scrabbled out pointing his wand right at Harry and breathing loudly.

"In… Inferior! _AVAD-_" before the curse was uttered; Regulus pushed him back into the crowd rather roughly, causing the short Death Eater to trample on top of others.

Harry took this chance and grabbed Hermione's hand, breaking the glass shielding the window with a simple spell and leaped through it. He ignored Hermione's loud screams as they fell through the air; Harry gripped the small hand of his friend tightly, not wanting to be separated from her in midair.

Soon they fell on rock, crashing and rolling down while crying out in pain from the fall. Then, with a loud splash, Harry was under water, the bitter coldness of the seemingly black water struck at him immediately, sending chills throughout his body and making him rise out of the water and reach out for any sort of salvation. But then the coldness of the water flowed away at the thought of Hermione. The Boy-who-lived scrambled around, looking for his dear friend while trying to not sink in the water.

He looked up at the rocks above him, seeing no sign of her there, then glanced at the surface of the water near him and saw nothing that indicated she was anywhere near him.

"Damnit!" He yelled out, diving into the freezing water yet again and seeing her immediately, swimming as fast as he could, he scooped her up, seeing that she was unconscious and swum upward, finding that she was quite heavy even underwater.

When reached the surface he gasped for air, finding the lake outside of the beloved Hogwarts school much warmer then the ocean water around Azkaban. He reached for the rocks with his free hand, grasping one and rising out of the water, dragging Hermione along with him. He lay down under the moonlight, shivering quite profoundly.

Moments passed in silence as Harry watched the stars blink high above him, when he felt dry enough to think he saw that Hermione was up as well, attempting to dry off her clothes by ringing out the water from different sections of her robes. She noticed Harry's presence and frowned at him, abandoning the water.

"What was that for!" She said rising up from the rocks, Harry cocked his head in confusion while she crossed her arms. "You… you toss me out of a window, only to land on sharp rocks and then sink… sink into that… ruthless ocean water…"

Harry shook his head, rising up from the ground, and keeping his tone soft and calm. "Would you rather rot in one of those cells with a Zombie or two staring at you f-…for two… I don't know… years maybe?" Harry looked up at the window they had just fallen from, he noticed, for the first time, a slight breeze the swung his raven black hair in every which way. He moved his gaze back to Hermione, surprised that her features, which were blazingly angry a moment ago, were now yielding and rather interested. "Listen, if we… we didn't jump out of there…"

"Who knows what mi-might've happened." She finished for him, looking down at the grey rocks around her feet. "I'm… I'm sorry Harry. You just saved my life and here I am…" She looked up at him with an apologetic look on her face, "complaining about everything as usual."

Harry shrugged and looked at the ocean before him, the water occasionally splashing up at his feet while rocks toppled into the deep, cavernous, depths of the water. "You're used to everything being perfect." He moved his gaze back to her face, smiling widely. "Nothing wrong with that," he said, bringing a smile on Hermione's features.

Soon the two friends were settled down on the rocks, watching the tide move backward, then inward, waiting for anything to happen. Hermione, as impatient as always, paced around while Harry leaned against the towering Azkaban wall behind him, he watched her progress around the small space they occupied with mild interest.

"So you going to tell me what happened while I was… unconscious?" Harry asked, trying to spend some time with at least _some _productivity. She turned to him sharply, raising her eyebrows in a questioning look.

The Muggle-born Witch turned away after a moment's eye contact. She opened her mouth the start her explanation, then closed it the next second, rethinking the story. Harry watched these transactions with calm interest, waiting patiently for the fruits of information to come to him. "Well, after V…Voldemort took over you and tried to make you kill Malfoy, you disappeared, something just… exploded… I don't know what made it. But, for some unknown reason, you were gone. McGonagall immediately took drastic measures, alerting Dumbledore and everyone-"

"Everyone?" Harry questioned with raised eyebrows.

The golden brown haired girl stuttered over several different prefixes while trying to come up with a satisfactory explanation. "You know…" she finally said. "the teachers… the students… custodians…"

"Custodian," Harry corrected finding that if anyone had previously joined Flich's custodian office, they would have quit before the end of their first day at work. Hermione nodded and continued nonetheless.

"Anyway, after you disappeared, classes ended, priority was given to your location. Teachers searched high and low for you, except for Vector I remember… I found her in the library… crying…"

"Crying? I don't even know V-"

"No Harry, not about you." Hermione interrupted, shaking her head. "I asked her and she said didn't care if you were dead… she would have been glad… to…"

"Glad to…?" Harry questioned after a long moment's pause.

"Glad to kill you herself." She said quickly, turning away and looking at the vast ocean before them. Harry fumbled over his thoughts, why would a teacher he had never seen want him dead? Why would this Professor Vector be so angry at him? "Harry," Hermione's composed voice drew the Boy-who-lived away from his thoughts. He looked up at the girl, her hair moving with the breeze, Harry found himself concentrating on her only and omitting every other thought and presence in the world. "She loved Snape… I think."

"What!" Harry exclamined, rising up from the rocks, "that's… why…" Harry started to pace, suddenly feeling despair grip at every emotion present in his body. The Boy-who-lived heard the girl move forward and grab his shoulder in an effort to comfort him.

"Harry, it's not your fault that Snap-"

"How is it _not _my fault!" Harry yelled at her, shaking her hand off. "I'm ashamed that I even forgot about that… I murdered him Hermione… I mur…murdered him…" He fell to his knees, the rocks scratching at his exposed skin through the tears in his jeans, and causing the only Potter alive this day to wince slightly.

"Harry, Harry! Forget about Snape!" The boy she was speaking to rose from the ground, turning to face her with red eyes, Hermione immediately looked taken aback, Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived, was crying.

Small droplets of water streamed from his two eyes while his lips trembled, he fell to the ground again. "I-I can't… I can't forget about him Hermione. I _killed _him!" He yelled, punching the rock, he didn't care that it stunned the bones inside of him, he didn't care about the pain, he just wanted… he just wanted…

What did Harry James Potter want out of life? Harry smiled, knowing the answer at once; he didn't want to be Harry Potter.

The boy in question rose from the ground, startling the girl attempting to comfort him, he turned to the ocean and leapt into its depths, hearing Hermione call after him.

As Harry sunk into the water, he thought of the peace that death would bring the escape from all the pain, all the suffering, the damned stone, and the Death Eaters. He let his body float around, he closed his mouth, shutting his eyes and waited.

Then, quite abruptly, someone pulled him upward; he opened his eyes, fumbling to escape the grip of this idiotic intruder. What did he know about life? Did Harry Potter care?

The suicidal boy dragged his arm away from this supposed _saviour _and swam down again.

"HARRY!" The cry was muffled, yet Harry understood it completely, opening his eyes again, he saw the blurry outline of Hermione Granger, treading only a couple of feet away from him.

He shook his head and continued to sink into the depths of the ocean, he heard her cry again, but then it started to echo, and Harry's world turned to black.

The bright sunlight stunned Harry as he coughed out what water remained inside of him, he rose from the rocks he was lying on to a sitting position, punching his chest to get as much water out as possible.

A snort of laughter came from his right and he looked over to see Hermione smiling at him, he punched his chest again, a gulp of water streaming out of his mouth.

"Wha… what happe-" he then felt a convulsion within him and more water spewed outward from his mouth. He jerked forward, holding a hand to his neck while Hermione stood up, a concerned expression on her face.

"Yo… you alright?" She asked tentatively while Harry choked a laugh. He shook his head with a slightly curled smile still on his face.

"He-heck no…" he coughed out some more water, struggling to stand up, he noticed the sun was now up in the sky and wondered why no wind came from any direction, yet the tide still moved in the same, oddly predictable, pattern as the night before. He spoke his concerns to his friend who shrugged, not knowing why. Harry laughed openly at this, unusual it was to have Hermione say "I don't know."

"What're you laughing about?" She asked frowning profoundly. The Boy-who-lived choked slightly, water spraying out of his throat again - why was this never shown in movies after someone nearly drowned? – looking up to meet her expression.

"It's… unusual fo-for you to say 'I don't know'." She nodded slightly, sitting down on the rocks while watching the ocean tides. "You going to continue you…your story?"

Hermione looked up at Harry in confusion. "What… oh… oh right." She opened her mouth the start, but then a resounding crash erupted from behind them, sending both of them, screaming, into the water, soaking their clothes yet again.

From under water, Harry watched blurry shapes look down at them, something in one of their hands. Then, rather suddenly, he was pulled out of the water by seemingly nothing. As he drank the fresh air, he looked down at Regulus Black, holding him suspended in mid-air with his wand.

"Ah Mr. Potter, you cease to bore me." He grinned, his yellow teeth showing quite clearly, Harry cleared his throat and noticed the uncomfortable pull this spell seemed to have to his neck, it made him feel like he was… being strangled. Though he could breathe normally, yet this strangling feeling that accompanied the spell made him suspended on nothing.

"Wh… what'd you want?" He knew Regulus could have killed him already, yet he continued to toy with him, moving him through the air at a low speed.

"Tell me where it is." He stated simply, the grin long gone. Harry stuttered, not knowing what he was talking about.

"What the he-" he was cut off as he fell from the air, the strangling grip pulling him into the water. Now he couldn't breathe at all, he struggled against the spell, trying in vain to block it out with his mind power.

Before he got a chance to try, he was pulled out of the water, and was back in the air where he could breathe normally. Regulus grinned at him, placing his arm around the neck of-

"HERMIONE!" Harry screamed, reaching out towards her, two black clad Death Eaters held her tightly, while she resisted their bindings and looked up at Harry with fearful eyes. "Damnit," he groaned, moving his gaze away from the hostage and back to Regulus. "I swear I don't kno…" he coughed out some water, watching it drip to the rocks below him, he didn't care that some of it was still leaking from the edge of his mouth, as if he were drooling. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about!"

The supposedly dead Death Eater smirked, chuckling slightly; he motioned to the Death Eaters who nodded, then took out their wands and pointed both of them at Hermione's face. Harry could literally hear the fearful panting coming from her mouth. Harry grunted a curse while Hermione shook her head repeatedly.

"TELL ME POTTER!" Regulus yelled, his eyes turning from a dark grey colour to blazing red, Harry indistinctly tried to move backward, finding his entire body immobile. "WHERE IS IT! WHERE IS THE STONE!"

Harry was reminded, in this spur of the moment, of Quirrell's desperate attempt at finding the Philosopher's Stone. His mind, as weak as it was because of Hermione's, now his mind shoot backward in time, Harry finding himself seeing his memories of his first year at the magnificent school of Hogwarts.

_"YOU!" Harry gasped, his finger pointing to the long deceased Quirrell who smiled, white teeth showing quite clearly. Harry started to stutter, but then Quirrell's grin faded away and his mouth opened to tell his tale._

_"Me," he turned his body fully, his purple cloak floating along with him, swaying against the stone floor below him, he looked up at the eleven year old, the grin returning. "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter."_

_"But…" Harry said, looking at the floor and shaking his head, his world collapsing around him. "But I thought – Snape…"_

_"Severus?" The Defence against the Dark Arts teacher bellowed a laugh, the usual quivering tone long dismissed to be replaced by a sharp, clean yet threatening, tone. "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat, but next to him, who would suspect p-poor st0-stuttering P-P-Professor Quirrell."_

_Harry stepped forward with his right foot, his hands trembling. "SNAPE TRIED TO KILL ME!" He seemed to be arguing with his own mind, his own theories, this couldn't be true…_

_"No, no, no Mr. Potter. _I tried to kill you._" He grinned widely, yet it soon disappeared to have a frown of frustration swap it. "Your imbecile friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set Snape's robe on fire." Harry had a sudden rush of gratitude for having the young girl as his friend._

_"The idiot broke my eye contact with you! And you rode away free. At least Snape didn't pull off his counter-curse, then my master would have killed me right there and then." He glanced to the mirror behind him for a second before returning his gaze to the first year's face, adding with a mumble. "Damn wandless magic…"_

_"Wait…" Harry mumbled. "Wait… Snap… Snape tried to _save _me?" Quirrell snorted at this._

_"Of course, why would he want to referee your next match? He was trying to make sure I didn't try to murder you again, though his efforts went to waste, for I couldn't really do anything with the idiot Dumbledore there. It was good that every student and teacher was trying to make Gryffindor lose, so no one paid me any mind, though he did make himself quite… unpopular."_

_"Though it matters not, for here we are, all alone. I'm going to kill you right here and now Harry Potter." Snapping his fingers, robes magically sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves around Harry._

_Squirming around, trying to free himself from the binds, Harry barely heard Quirrell's speech. "You're too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school at Hallowe'en like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at was guarding the stone."_

_Harry lifted his head at this statement, the binds around him forgotten at the moment. "_You _let the troll in!" Harry asked astonished, he probably never thought that Quirrell and trolls could fit together._

_"Certainly. I have a special affinity for trolls – you must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around like maniacs, Snape, who already suspected me, sped off towards here." He lifted his arms, indicating the resting place of the Philosopher's stone. "No doubt planning to head me off, unfortunately, my plans failed me yet again here. Since, not only did the troll fail to beat you and your pesky friends to death, but the stupid dog didn't manage to bite off Snape's head, instead biting at his leg and only chipping part of it off."_

_"Now then Potter, wait quietly. I must examine this mirror more closely." Harry saw him turn around, yet his vision started to become blurry and Quirrell's turban seemed to unravel towards the floor, revealing the pale white and smiling expression of Lord Voldemort._

_"YOU DIE POTTER!" The voice cried out, echoing throughout Harry's mind and tearing his conscious apart piece by piece, he felt himself crumble to the ground and the next second –_

He was kneeling in front of Regulus, who was currently kicking his chest repeatedly.

"Get up you imbecile!" He growled while the Boy-who-lived groaned and rolled over, clutching his pained stomach. Regulus, at least Harry thought it was, kicked him again growling. Harry laughed, knowing the voice of Regulus all to well, and the distinctive growl belonged to one of his peers. Crabbe, the bulky yet thick-headed Death Eater, it seemed that he was taking after his father, who was also a Death Eater.

"Get up!" This time, another foot landed into his stomach region, somewhat harder than Crabbe's kick, Harry laughed again at the pity Crabbe was showing him. Harry Potter then opened his eyes, his vision blurred and the sun's beam of light shooting right from above him, he shut his two eyes again, groaning at the pain. He attempted to push himself from the rocks using his two hands as leverage against the rocks.

It was successful, and Harry was soon on his two feet, his emerald eyes opening up to see his late godfather's brother in front of him, his arm still around Hermione's neck. Her eyes were closed and her head fallen, she looked like she was unconscious, but it could be misleading, she could actually be under some sort of spell made up by Regulus Black, or she could even be…

Harry took a deep breath, opening the latter possibility was not indeed true.

"Are you going to tell me where it is or not!" Regulus said through clenched teeth, his expression seething. "Or are you going to faint again!"

The Boy-who-lived turned his gaze from the unconscious Hermione to Regulus, taking a deep breath before speaking. "I don't know what you're talking about." He immediately regretted it when one of the two shrouded Death Eater's lifted a wand, pointing it at Hermione/

_"Avada Kedavra." _It was a female voice, but Harry didn't care, he screaming loudly, the savage green spell colliding with Hermione's neck before Harry could reach for her, her body turned an eerily pale green colour, her head rising and her two eyes opening wide. The next second she was on the ground, lifeless.

Harry crumpled to the ground, his hands turning into fists while Regulus dismissed the two Death Eaters and grabbed him by the collar. Harry didn't even feel part of the grip; his mind was focused on the vast amount of memories with Hermione Jane Granger.

_"Was that even her middle name?" _Harry questioned in his mind, laughing hollowly at it, he felt so empty now, truly alone in the world.

"It's at Hogwarts…" Harry mumbled, knowing Regulus would go away once he told him the truth, he laughed openly, releasing his grip on Harry. Harry felt no difference as he fell to the ground again, deciding to go to sleep and hoping that he would wake up in his bedroom in the Dursley residence, with none of this having occurred.

"Now that wasn't so difficult was it Harry?" The Death Eater said slyly, Harry didn't care what he was talking about. He felt at fault for Hermione's death, because of his wavering, because of his… because…

"She's dead…" Harry mumbled while Regulus laughed coldly.

"And so are you Harry! I have no more use for you!" He pushed him into the water, Harry didn't bother resisting, death would be nice right about now, he could see his Hermione again… her amazing golden curls… her remarkable chocolate brown eyes… her expansive knowledge of facts…

He welcomed the water around him, shutting his eyes, feeling his salvation nearing. He could barely hear Hermione's empty body pierce the water as well, it seemed Regulus didn't want to bother burying either of them after their deaths, let the tide take them.

Harry was fine with that; he could be with Hermione… for eternity.

A/N No, it's not over yet! I'm not quitting once I've gone this far!


	15. Chapter 13: Death and Continuance

Cry of a Restless Soul

Summary:

The final Chapter for Cry of a Restless Soul, everything, I hope, is revealed to the protaginist as he continues to wander throughout his mind, dwelling on the lost friend.

Chapter 13:

Death and Continuance

From Harry's view, it looked as though Hermione Jane Granger would have to wait awhile before she would get any company in the afterlife. The grip of the hand that reached for the Boy-who-lived's own arm was quite familiar.

Ronald Weasley, who Harry had not seen or spoken to for the longest time, smiled slightly at Harry as he coughed out all of the water in him in every direction possible, while trying not the flood the rowboat they currently sat in.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry spit out a droplet of water, thinking he could be a least a _bit _more considerate, and wait for Harry to become capable of speech. Punching his chest, he looked up at Ron with a blank expression.

"S-she…." Harry stuttered, looking downward and away from Ron's questioning expression.

"She's just captured right?" He said frantically. "W-well we can go rescue her right?" Harry didn't say anything, but continued to stare at the ocean water below them, remembering that Ron and Hermione were together, bond by love.

"Ro…" Harry said softly, looking back at him with trembling hands. "I-I…"

The red haired Weasley – like there's any other type of Weasley – waited for the inevitable answer with teary eyes. Harry laughed then, a cold echoing sound floating around the boat as they drifted in some direction, with the prison of Azkaban looming behind them. "She's dead isn't she?" He said finally in a monotone voice, Harry nodded, not being able to speak the truth.

It was awhile before Harry found himself in the water again, with an enraged Ronald Weasley cursing at him, his stupidity, his lust for fame, his whatever. Harry was tired of it as soon as he opened his mouth. He moved his gaze away from his best friend and dived back into the very familiar water.

He soon found what he was looking for, the last time he did this; she was alive. He ran a hand across her forehead, her brown eyes wide open and staring right past him, a fearful tone seeping out of them. Harry felt his eyes start to blur, he didn't know one could cry under water, he didn't particularly care about it anyway.

The Boy-who-lived wrapped his arms around the lifeless body, clinging to it, shielding it just as he had done so many times in life. He felt the tears bleed from his eyes effortlessly, he let them stream across his face. Soon, he realized he needed to breathe, he wanted to die here with her, but the waiting Ron up in the boat above him would probably die along with him and Ron deserved life.

If any of the three of them; Ron was the one who would likely become successful. He was the most precise, he went about things with his own knowledge rather than relying on a book or someone else's reasoning. Harry was too occupied with the destruction of Lord Voldemort to think about his future and Hermione…

When Hermione Granger was alive, she didn't know what she wanted to do. Of course she thought about it, but nothing ever excited her.

_"Maybe she wanted to be a librarian…" _The raven black haired boy thought as he swam upward, lugging the still clothed corpse of Hermione Granger along with him.

As his head burst from the depths of the water, he felt air fly into his insides, allowing him to breathe, but Harry felt no salvation from there. His gaze moved to the corpse he carried, the forever fearful expression plastered on her face. He felt himself choke; and he knew the feeling was now flowing into him.

He was never going to see her smile again.

It was just like in his fifth year.

Harry and Ron alternated rowing the boat, when one started to lose control of himself; bursting into enraged fits and threatening to kill Regulus Black, then the other would come in and take the oar from him and start without another word. Harry hardly noticed that Ron had enchanted the second oar to mimic its twin while in motion.

Whenever Harry wasn't rowing he was cradling Hermione in his arms, pressing his face to her chest, feeling no heart beat, no warmth. Just a cold, dank feeling to her body, Harry found himself automatically thinking how it would feel to hold Hermione like this when she was alive.

"DAMNIT!" Ron burst out in his third fit of the time they had spent together. He rose from his spot, the magical oar stopping instantly. He rotated his entire body; positively fuming with rage, yet behind the shield the rage hid was utter sadness and loneliness. "Why Harry! WHY!" He grabbed Harry by his shoulders, while tears of his own bled from his own eyes.

Harry merely took off his arms calmly, while he fell onto his knees, choking in front of the empty body of their dear friend. As Harry sat down in the previously occupied spot, he couldn't help but realize how much they relied on Hermione. Not just for homework, but she was their source of salvation, of comfort.

He started to row, the enchanted row mimicking him. Harry laughed hollowly; shutting his eyes for a moment, because of him Hermione was dead. Because he couldn't practice that stupid technique called Occul… Occulmenie?

The Boy-who-lived laughed again; everything seemed so irrelevant right now, his entire world had come crashing down because of the uttering of those two stupid words. Harry felt his own blood quicken, he cried out an ineligible jumble of words. Stopping his rowing while bowing his head low, his grip on the row tightened, making his hands turn white, but how did that matter? Hermione was dead.

The truth was falling into his mind; that he would never hear her laugh, never hear her sarcastic comments, never hear her truthful arguments. He groaned, collapsing while hearing a hollow laugh that mirrored his own.

"We'll never make it back like this…" Ron mumbled, lifting Harry up. "You want me to take over?" Harry noticed, as his eyes made contact with Ron's, that his eyes were bloodshot, never had Harry seen someone cry that much. Did Ron really care about Hermione that muc-

Harry shook his head, lifting a hand while trying to place a smile on his face. "I… I've got it covered." He stifled while loosening his grip on the oar. He resumed the rhythm again as Ron returned to his seat, cradling the girl he loved.

The Boy-who-lived felt envy grip at him, he didn't care if that stupid Voldemort was still lurking in his mind, he was satisfied. Harry could tell by the consistent prickling pain eating away at his scar. Regulus told him he had killed Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, two of Hogwart's most promising students. Harry spit into the water next to him, moving his gaze back to its original position, looking onward in front of him.

Then the rain started. Small droplets hit Harry in the eye, dodging past the rim of his glasses, he blinked, surprised by the sudden rainfall. He looked upward, only to see grey clouds looming high above him. Cursing at his incompetence, he looked over to Ron who shrugged.

"Should we stop?" Harry asked him, shutting his eyes in surprise at the flash of lightning erupting elsewhere. He shrugged again, looking back at Hermione. Harry moaned, heaving himself up and went over to Ron and picked him up from the ground. "Stop moping! Crying over Hermione isn't going to accomplish anything!" The Boy-who-lived yelled, surprised at his own speech, when he had done just as Ron was doing now. He said nothing, looking back at Hermione's body, his lips trembling.

"She… she wanted to be a librarian. You know?" He mumbled, a smile twitching. Harry smiled at his amazing affinity with Divination. Ron turned away from her body, frowning profoundly. "I loved her you know!" He yelled angrily, just as the crackle of thunder sounded throughout the ocean.

"Wh-what?" Harry stuttered, backing away and tripping on the seat behind him, he fell to the floor, rocking the boat ever so slightly. Ron towered over him, another flash of lightning blinding Harry in the distance.

"I-LOVED-HERMIONE-GRANGER! WHAT DO I HAVE TO SAY T-TO CONVINCE YOU!" He launched himself Harry, grabbing his neck with both his hands while Harry fumbled around, trying to back away from the lunatic. He felt his breath become limited, and felt a smile creep onto his face, he was going to Hermione. Ron was going to kill him, and he would see Hermione's smile again.

He then saw her; a blinding white light surrounded him, sending all thoughts away from his mind. He blinked at the sudden change in environment, mist shrouded every corner and there Hermione stood with the usual bright smile on her face, her white teeth showing ever so slightly. Harry felt himself move forward, lusting for… for anything related to her. He finally got to her, she was so much shorter than him, the same grin was still on her face and she wrapped her arms around him, cradling him. Harry felt himself shut his eyes blissfully, not wanting this… this miracle to end; she ended the hug, her arms still gripping his arms.

Harry felt himself lose himself in the familiar chocolate eyes that he had come to love recently. Then, her pure skin disappeared, the heavenly mist around him turning black, he felt himself fall to the ground, his knees buckling with pain and his mind felt like it was being ripped apart piece by piece.

Then it was all gone, and he opened his eyes to see the amazingly memorable eyes of Albus Dumbledore, sitting across from him in his office. This is where the relation to his fifth year came in. Harry stood up, looking around frantically while Dumbledore chuckled.

"If you are wondering as to where your friend Mr. Weasley is currently." He said closing his eyes and bowing his head. "He is currently visiting your departed friend."

Harry stood there, feeling rather ridiculous. He opened his mouth… then closed it the next second thinking of another question. As he opened his mouth another time, Dumbledore lifted a hand and opened his eyes, stopping him. He pointed a long finger to the chair Harry just left. Harry sat, not wanting to repeat another meeting like the previous one he had attended at the end of his fifth year.

"Now then, where to start?" Dumbledore chuckled, shutting his eyes again while. "I realized as soon as I saw you off at your Uncle's residence that Voldemort loitered within your mind even more powerfully now. And that my attempts throughout last year were futile. Though I resolved to teach you Occulmency myself, other… events interrupted our meetings and consistency is a very important part of Occulmency. Then, after you have saved the young Ms. Cullen, from a viciously premature murder and Voldemort took the blow for you, I realized that this… this intrusion might have some advantages to it.

"I see now that this mistake in theory has caused the death of a dear friend of yours. And I am proud of you, since you have not stormed around, throwing random objects unanimously." Said Dumbledore, clearing his throat again, Harry noticed how much the scars and wrinkles prominent throughout his visage had deepened over the years. Harry didn't want to accept it, but it seemed that Dumbledore, the most magnificent magician in the world, could age. He was indeed human like all of the other, supposedly inferior, wizards, witches, and muggles alike. "As you did in your previous year," he added. "Now then," he clapped his hands together causing Harry to sit up straight and forget about his uncomfortable behaviour a minute ago.

"Going back to your summer holiday for a moment, for it is necessary to start there, owing to the fact that you learnt of…" Dumbledore pondered for the correct word to use. "…a strange occurrence. Correct?" He said slowly while Harry cocked his head in confusion.

"That I managed to get an 'A' and an 'E' in Potions?" Harry said equally as slowly and the old wizard chuckled, smiling fully. Harry thought him selfish for smiling now of all times, just when the legendary Hermione Granger had… had…

"No, Harry, no not that, but that is a strange occurrence is it not?" The boy replied with a nod and a slight smile of his own, forgetting about Hermione for a split second. Dumbledore chuckled again, clasping his hands together whenever the two of them went to far off topic. "Though that is not what I am talking about. I am, of course, talking about the disappearance of young Percy Weasley." Harry felt memories flow back into him; truthfully, Percy didn't occupy any speck of his mind right now.

"Percy…? Wha… what-" Dumbledore lifted a hand, silencing the Boy-who-lived.

"Percy, we assume, joined the Death Eaters rankings under Fudge's permission." Dumbledore stated, causing Harry to rise from his chair in astonishment.

"Wh-what!" Harry blurted. The headmaster of Hogwarts lifted the same hand in the same manner as many times before, and Harry felt himself shrink into his chair again as if being pulled down by strings.

"The ambitious Weasley wanted to prove himself to Fudge. The Wizard with the most political influence on this side of the world; when Fudge learned of the late Professor Snape's defiant stance against the Death Eaters, yet was still in their ranks, Fudge realized that Snape was acting as a spy. Of course this made me withdraw Professor Snape from there.

"These events took place last year, yet I never thought of it as… let's say, important. But Percy decided to try to mirror these feats that Professor Snape performed effortlessly. Yet…"

"Yet…?" Inquired Harry after a moment's pause.

"Auror's found, and rescued, him."

"Rescued?" Harry inquired again.

"Yes, that is correct; he was on an assignment, the first… field assignment he had to perform." Dumbledore lowered his clasped hands and watched the many familiar shinning silver objects perform different actions on his desk before finishing his explanation. Harry waited patiently while wondering why Percy, being as pushy and edgy as he was, could manage to execute the same actions as his complete opposite, Snape. "He was asked to, by a commanding officer I assume, to murder an entire Auror trainee camp on the east side of Luxembourg, close to the Alzeete River."

"This exercise was meant to prove Percy's allegiance to Lord Voldemort, yet Percy was hesitant, and because of that he was easy to find for the young Aurors." Dumbledore paused, as if allowing Harry to wrap his mind around this explanation.

"Wait-" Harry said, "how is this…"

"Significant?" Dumbledore supplied with raised eyebrows and Harry nodded. "Yes it does seem rather irrelevant doesn't it? But because of Mr. Weasley's pretend traitorous behaviour, we learnt of a couple of rather important things. One was that you were in Azkaban prison which was now cluttered with Voldemort's creations."

"Yeah… those things..." Harry meant to say something along the lines of 'were disgusting' or 'repelling', but the words never expelled from his diaphragm.

"Are rather unpleasant," the old wizard said quietly and slowly, like he too was disgusted by them. "The other was of a certain Ludo Bagman's lineage."

Harry cocked his head in confusion. "L-Ludo Bagman?"

Dumbledore nodded his head, his many wrinkles showing quite visibly. "Yes, his greed for gold… overtook him. Tempting him to align himself with the Death Eaters. Of course, Mr. Bagman scurried away long before I knew of his true roots, I find myself foolish for not suspecting this sooner." Dumbledore bowed his head, shaking it. "The man was responsible for keeping an eye on you Harry, of course he didn't go out in the open as the disguised Moody did two years ago, but he watched from the shadows, casting various spells to keep your mind open to intrusion."

Harry rose from his seat, the comfortable chair he was just seated at falling to the ground with an echoing sound around the small office. "D-does this mean…?"

"Yes, Harry, you are, in fact, _not _that weak." He said cheerfully, a smile spreading on his face. "My loyal caretaker, Mr. Filch, has been reporting, on several occasions, of Mr. Bagman's odd behaviour, not coming to staff meetings, walking around for hours on the seventh floor. When I began to suspect him, he disappeared, vanished into thin air.

"I approached the Aurors immediately. I believe that an article will be published soon enough about him, and the answers to how he came about so much gold." Harry relaxed at this, picking up the seat he had just tipped over. "And that comes to our last order of business…" the Wizard continued pressing his fingertips of both hands together. "The two funerals will be held simultaneously on November the Eleventh. The entire school will be taking the day off to go there and… celebrate… their passing."

Harry didn't speak for a moment, choosing only to nod. Dumbledore said nothing either, it seemed the usually-at-the-end-of-the-year meeting was now over. Harry rose, his usually vibrant emerald eyes blank with uncertainty.

He didn't hear his own footsteps as he left the office, he didn't hear if Dumbledore had said anything to him, he didn't particularly care either. He was foolish… utterly foolish. Throughout the entire meeting, Harry had not thought about Hermione once.

_"Amazingly selfish…" _he said in his mind. It was like Voldemort still possessed him, he didn't care that Hermione was dead. He didn't care that Snape was dead. He wanted to scream, to let all the tears fall from his eyes, yet who would he cry on?

Ron? Ron would never act in any meaningful way with other males, not even in a discussion let alone in a comfort session. Harry continued to wander aimlessly around the castle; he assumed he wasn't supposed to be in classes right now. He smiled, knowing he would probably fail every course now without his dear Hermione.

"My Hermione…"Harry mumbled climbing the stairs towards the seventh floor, cursing Voldemort for his deceives actions…

A/N And so ends Cry of a Restless Soul. Abrupt I know, but fear not! The sequel will be coming out in no time, the protagonist changing to… well, I won't spoil the surprise. For now, wait until the next instalment in the Legacy Chronicles appears!

Thank you for reading and reviewing! I promise the next one will be even BETTER than this one; I'm planning to focus more on description, for I've noticed that A LOT of this fic was in dialogue, I'll try not to be as fast-paced with everything and more in character.

Any suggestions and comments are welcome! Please Review!

Ending stats for Cry of a Restless Soul:

Words:  
67983

Chapters:  
15

Hits:  
5027

c2s:  
1

Favs:  
4

Alerts:  
6

Thank you for reading!


End file.
